Five die while hiding in Darfur’s Jebel Marra
Three pregnant women and two children died in Jebel Marra on Sunday and Monday owing to the absence of health care and medicines in the war-torn area.
Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a villager reported that the victims belong to the about 300 families who fled attacks on the area of Fanga by joint army and militia forces in January.
“We sought refuge in Wadi Njoro, near to the mountain top, which lies about 10km south of Fanga,” he explained.
Three pregnant women and two children died in Jebel Marra on Sunday and Monday owing to the absence of health care and medicines in the war-torn area.
Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a villager reported that the victims belong to the about 300 families who fled attacks on the area of Fanga by joint army and militia forces in January.
“We sought refuge in Wadi Njoro, near to the mountain top, which lies about 10km south of Fanga,” he explained.
“Um El Kheir Eisa (31) died while giving birth on Sunday. Hawa Yagoub Adam (35) and Samia Abakar Hamed (28) died of bleeding. On Monday, Abdelmonim Saleh (5) and Abdelazeem Yahya (6) passed away owing to severe diarrhoea and vomiting.”
He said that the families remain trapped in the valley for almost two months, without shelter, and any access to health care.
On 31 December last year, the Sudanese government began its “second dry season campaign” aimed at the elimination of “the insurgents” in Darfur. Troops of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched widespread attacks on villages in Tawila locality, North Darfur, which is popularly known as East Jebel Marra. Thousands of villagers fled their homes, and sought refuge in the nearby valleys and mountains. Others managed to reach the North Darfur camps for the displaced.
Aid organisations have so far registered 32,490 newly displaced people in North and Central Darfur states, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan in its latest weekly bulletin.
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