Zamzam camp residents protest, demand end to RSF siege

September 30, 2024 (EL FASHER) – Residents of Zamzam camp for displaced people in Sudan’s North Darfur state staged a protest on Sunday, demanding an end to a siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) they say is causing widespread hunger and a severe shortage of essential supplies.

The RSF seized control of the town of Dar es Salaam on Sept. 11, cutting off the only access point to Zamzam camp and arresting dozens of traders accused of smuggling fuel. The move has exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation, with aid agencies and commercial convoys unable to reach the camp.

“Large numbers of displaced people organized a protest calling for the urgent lifting of the siege on Zamzam camp,” camp spokesperson Mohamed Khamis Doda told Sudan Tribune. He warned of critical shortages of medicine, particularly for women’s health and childbirth, and said many lives are at risk.

Doda described severe consequences resulting from the blockade, including a lack of fuel that has crippled water wells and driven up the price of drinking water. He said a barrel of water now costs 10,000 Sudanese pounds, an impossible sum for most displaced people with no income and limited access to cash.

Newly displaced people arriving from El Fasher and other areas are particularly vulnerable, Doda said, sheltering in temporary accommodation and public spaces with little support. He called for urgent international intervention to pressure the RSF to lift the siege on both Zamzam camp and El Fasher city.

The hunger crisis in Zamzam has reached a critical point, with residents eating peanut and millet remnants, typically used for animal feed, to survive.

In August, the United Nations Development Programme warned of famine in Zamzam, which houses 500,000 displaced people. Sudanese authorities denied the claim, blaming food shortages on the RSF siege of El Fasher.

Before the RSF blockade, residents relied on a western route through Tawila, east of Jebel Marra, for supplies after El Fasher was besieged from the north and east. However, the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdel Wahid Nur, which controls that area, has also restricted the movement of commercial convoys.