One meal every other day

Displaced Persons in camps inside the city of (Zalingei), Central Darfur described the conditions they are living in as “tragic”, in light of the mounting threat of death by starvation due to the food shortages and exacerbated by the absence of humanitarian aid.

Hawaa Hassan, who lives in one of the centers for displaced people inside the city of (Zalingei), said that she and her five children haven’t eaten a meal in three days, except for “qongo”, which is the remains of porridge dough that sticks to the cooking pot, after she ran out of flour.

Hawaa, a widow who lost her husband to a stray bullet that hit him during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the Army in Central Darfur, told “Darfur 24” that she is living a real tragedy after losing her husband and her home in (Al-Hasaheisa) Camp, which was looted and vandalized.

She said that she “Was displaced to one of the shelters seeking a measure of security, food and medicine, but she only found crumbs that come intermittently from some national organizations and community initiatives, which isn’t enough to live on for one week.”

She went on to add that “The situation in the shelters has made the displaced people into prisoners waiting for their years of sentence to pass. We are waiting for the war to stop so we can return to our homes and look for work to support our children.. No one cares about us.”

For his part, Youssef Ismail told “Darfur 24” that most of the displaced people suffer from a shortage of food supplies, as the cost of a loaf of bread is about (20) thousand pounds with flour, not to mention the cost of a full meal.

He added that “The majority of families left the shelters inside the city, due to health, social and security problems, especially after they despaired of the promises made by the organizations that never seem to become a reality, except for the little that is nowhere near enough for more than a week.”

For its part, the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees called in a press release on the international and regional community to exert maximum pressure on the parties to the conflict to stop the war immediately, and not to use food as a weapon of starvation against the displaced and citizens in Darfur specifically or Sudan in general.

The press release described the humanitarian crisis suffered by the displaced persons in displacement and refugee camps as an exceptional tragedy, as it is exacerbated by the ongoing conflict, the imposed siege, and the famine spreading in all displacement camps in Darfur, until it was reflected as a horrific daily suffering.

The statement indicated that most of the displaced have begun to eat one meal every two to three days, due to the severe scarcity and high prices in the markets, and their inability to buy food, stressing that some have resorted to relying on herbs and food waste that are used locally as animal feed.

It is worth noting that the neighborhoods of (Zalingei) city contain more than ten shelter centers within which more than two thousand families live, in addition to five large camps for the displaced, within which more than eight thousand families live.