Community kitchens in starving Sudanese city forced to close
Community kitchens in Sudan’s besieged city of El-Fasher have been forced to shut down after running out of food, according to the Sudan Tribune on October 5th.
The community kitchens have been feeding thousands of residents since El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, was placed under siege by the Rapid Support Forces in May 2024.
The famine-stricken city is the last remaining urban centre in the vast western region of Darfur, which is still controlled by the Sudanese military. Since April 2023, it has been at war with the RSF after a power struggle turned violent.
All key humanitarian corridors leading into the city have been totally blocked by the RSF, who have even constructed over 30 kilometres (19 miles) of raised earth barriers surrounding El-Fasher. In August, Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab described the city as “a literal kill box.”
Local and international aid groups have frequently warned that if protected aid corridors are not opened up immediately, the famine will rapidly spread. The supervisor of a community kitchen, which had previously distributed meals for over 3,000 people, said that they were unable to operate on October 5th.
He spoke to Sudan Tribune, saying that “we have no food supplies available in the city”, adding that “all attempts to secure new supplies have completely failed.”
Recent RSF drone strikes have only worsened the shortage in food supplies. According to one volunteer, over the last two weeks drones have bombed various alternative markets that were heavily relied on by residents for survival.
The El-Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination recently released a damning statement outlining the dire straits the local economy is in. It revealed that a sack of “ambaz” – animal feed – now costs two million Sudanese pounds.
The extreme scarcity has skyrocketed demand for anything even remotely edible. Al-Jazeera reported on August 4th that El-Fasher’s residents are now forced to survive on animal fodder.
The statement continued by warning that “the humanitarian disaster in the city has surpassed bearable limits”, verifying that community kitchens have been forced to close as they are unable to afford “ambaz.”
On October 3rd, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown cautioned that the problems in El-Fasher extend far beyond famine as “access to clean water is limited” and “sanitation is incredibly poor.” This has led to the rapid spread of cholera and dengue fever, particularly in overcrowded displacement camps.
Sudan Tribune, Maghrebi.org, United Nations, Al-Jazeera
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