Ombada locality faces hunger, medical crisis as RSF holds sway 

April 30, 2024 (OUMDURMAN) – Resistance committees in Ombada locality, west of Omdurman, reported new deaths on Tuesday, highlighting a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area.

Children, according to the committee, succumbed to hunger while women died during childbirth owing to a lack of access to healthcare services.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) controls most of Ombada, and residents in many areas face severe food shortages as ration supplies have run out. Looting and vandalism have overwhelmed all major markets in the city.

The spokesperson for the Central Committees of Resistance and Change in Dar es Salaam, Abdul Karim Saleh reported that seven children died from malnutrition, with dozens of other children malnourished. He added that an unknown number of women died during childbirth due to a lack of medical care.

Saleh also cited the outbreaks of diseases like malaria and night blindness.

“Due to lack of money, struggling families can only manage one meal a day,” he said, highlighting the inadequacy of emergency food assistance in meeting people’s needs.

Saleh pointed out that over 15% of the local population have now resorted to begging in neighbourhoods and markets.

There are concerns that power outages have plagued some neighbourhoods, especially Dar es Salaam, for the past three months. Residents also lack safe drinking water, and internet and communication networks are disrupted.

Sudan’s health system is disintegrating under the weight of the fighting raging since April last year amid threats of possible collapse if the war that has already displaced millions continue, the World Health Organizatiion (WHO) said.

(ST)