Insecurity leads to drinking water shortage in North Darfur

The population of Malha in North Darfur have been suffering from an acute shotage of drinking water for more than a week, owing to a lack of fuel for the pumps. The supply of fuel from Khartoum stopped because of the insecurity in the region. “The people are facing great difficulties in getting drinking water,” a listener in Malha town told Radio Dabanga. “We have to fetch our water now from an area about 3km away from Malha. A barrel of water has risen to SDG10 ($1.75) on the commercial markets.” “The water stations have stopped operating because there is no fuel. Traffic from Omdurman to El Malha locality is halted because of the rampant insecurity in North Darfur.” File photo: Collecting water at Wadi El Kou, North Darfur (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related:Fuel crisis in South Darfur’s capital enters fourth week (17 March 2014)Darfur fuel shortage halts work on Ingaz highway (2 February 2014)Price hikes in Sudan, fuel crisis hinders farming; MPs warn of famine (23 January 2014)