JUBA — An international humanitarian charity organization on Tuesday warned that families in Sudan’s El Obeid city, in North Kordofan, are dying in drone strikes and facing extreme hunger despite repeated warnings.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and partners, the increasingly besieged city is facing drone attacks and rising fears of a broader offensive by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said reports from the ground show that the nightmare is already unfolding for many families who remain trapped inside the city.
“In El Obeid, families are starving while dodging indiscriminate attacks just to stay alive. The world has been warned about this crisis and let it happen anyway,” Jan said in a statement extended to Sudan’s Post on Tuesday.
Jan called for immediate protection of civilians, aid workers, and local responders in and around El Obeid, including concrete steps to stop strikes on hospitals, schools, markets, and water, electricity, and fuel infrastructure.
He said urgent emergency funding is needed, along with unhindered humanitarian access to El Obeid and the wider Kordofan region.
“Children go to school with no water, no electricity, and no food, in buildings that cannot protect them from the strikes overhead. At times, local responders deliver aid at night, because daylight has become more dangerous than darkness.”
He said fuel shortages, caused by attacks on fuel stations and vehicles being targeted along major roads, have driven transport costs to unprecedented levels, with one liter of fuel reportedly costing more than a teacher’s monthly salary.
“The atrocities committed throughout this war leave no doubt about what is at stake. The international community must now exert maximum pressure on the warring parties and those with influence over them.”
Jan said some families have been forced to sell their possessions in an attempt to secure a way out, while many remain trapped because they lack the resources to flee.
“History will judge not only those who committed these crimes but also those who had the power to help prevent them and failed to act,” he said.
At least 45 civilians were killed in the city in just three weeks in June, according to the UN, as drone attacks repeatedly hit markets, schools, fuel stations, water infrastructure, and vehicles.
Just last week, an aid convoy, on the way to the city, was hit by a strike. In some areas, no aid has reached families for months, according to local partners.
The crisis is pressing into the most basic parts of daily life. With water facilities out of service, families have to queue for long hours to get water that is often unsafe for drinking.
As the rainy season begins, the threat of cholera and other water-borne diseases is looming.
Many families are forced to mix flour with water just to fill their children’s stomachs because nothing else is left, or they cannot afford the spiraling food prices.
