No clean water for refugees in Uganda and displaced in Darfur

People living in the Sortony camp for displaced people in North Darfur, in shelter centres in Rahad El Berdi in South Darfur, and in the Kiryandongo refugee camp in Uganda all suffer from a severe drinking water crisis. The displaced in Darfur also lack food, medicines, and other basic goods. More than 60 lorries loaded with humanitarian aid are reportedly on their way to Darfur.

In the Kryandungo camp in Bweyale, about 220 kilometres north of the Ugandan capital Kampala, the refugees, most of them from South Sudan but since last year also offering shelter to thousands of people from Sudan, have to walk long distances to obtain reasonably clean drinking water.

“The camp has three water stations. One of them is out of order and the other two provide only salty water, not fit for any use,” refugee Hasan Abuh told Radio Dabanga yesterday.

“Therefore, we are forced to travel several kilometres to reach a drinking water site, where we can buy water in jerry cans for the sum of UGX1,000 (US$0.26) per jerrycan. We’re also spending money on the rent of motorcycles.”

More than 2,200 kilometres northwest of Bweyale, residents of the Sortony camp, set up in Kabkabiya to host displaced from Jebel Marra in early 2014, also suffer from a severe drinking water crisis.

“We have to walk for more than an hour and a half to get water,” a camp resident told Radio Dabanga. “We are happy that we can do this safely,” he said. “The only positive factor here is the stability of the security situation in the camp, as it is controlled by fighters of Abdelwahid Nur’s Sudan Liberation Movement.

Hunger

The Sortony camp resident added that “Because the provision of aid by relief organisations stopped after the war broke out in April last year, the lack of job opportunities to earn some money only increased, and the food prices continue to soar, most of the people in the camp are not only thirsty but also suffer from severe hunger”.

People in Kassab camp in North Darfur’s Kutum say they have not received food aid for 13 months. Farmers were unable to cultivate their land during the past agricultural season because of repeated armed attacks by herders on farms, while pests and locusts destroyed all crops in the areas that were cultivated.

One of the displaced in Kassab called for urgent relief, reporting “forebodes of famine” in the camp, “in addition to the absence of medicines other than painkillers”.

Many are suffering from diseases, especially infections and colds, while treatment of chronic diseases is only available in El Fasher. “The travel costs from Kutum to the state capital amount to SDG30,000 (US$50) also form a huge obstacle,” he said, and noted the suffering of pregnant women in obtaining medical care and the lack of anaesthesia to perform caesarean sections.

He warned of the worsening suffering of people in Kutum town and neighbouring Kassab camp due to “the chaos in the security situation. RSF troops collect fees from people and vehicles at the Kutum gates, in addition to widespread plundering of shops and markets”.

Kutum, under control of the RSF since June last year, witnessed bombardments by the Sudanese Air Force near the town yesterday morning.

South Darfur

The people who fled to Rahad El Berdi in South Darfur are also suffering from a severe shortage of drinking water, food, medicine, and shelter materials.

Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Taha Makhtoum told Radio Dabanga from Rahad El Berdi that the town’s 26 shelter centres house 35,000 displaced people, in addition to 300 families hosted by residents in their homes. “Most of them come from other places in Darfur and fled from battles between the Sudanese army and the RSF or inter-tribal fighting. But there are also people here who fled from Khartoum,” he explained.

“Among the displaced here in Rahad El Berdi are more than 530 pregnant women, 603 widows, 2,960 children under five years old, and 1,096 people with special needs.”

The humanitarian aid commissioner added: “The large number of displaced people in Rahad El Berdi locality puts a lot of pressure on the local services and resources, especially water. The water crisis in the city is exacerbated because the livestock in the area has not left to the Central African Republic this dry season [February-May) due to the problems there.”

The locality also lacks clean drinking water, as most of the water wells are polluted.

Displaced people in Kalma camp near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, on Sunday reported a distressing surge in fatalities among vulnerable groups, notably children and the elderly, due to severe malnutrition within the camp.

Aid transport

Last week, the International Organisation for Migration reported that the number of displaced people and refugees as a result of the war had risen to 8.5 million. The number of new displaced people sheltering within Sudan reached 6.5 million, bringing the total of displaced people in the country to more than nine million. About two million fled to one of Sudan’s neighbouring countries or further away.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan stated in its Humanitarian Response Dashboard over February issued yesterday that humanitarian needs in the country were already deeply worrying before the SAF-RSF war erupted in April last year.

“All humanitarian clusters face challenges in relations to insecurity, access, communications blackouts, limited operating capacities, supply chain disruptions, bureaucratic impediments, increasing operational costs, and limited funding,” OCHA stated.

“Despite the challenges, 77 humanitarian partners reached more than 2.3 million people with life-saving assistance since January 2024. Humanitarian organizations require US$2.7 billion to support 14.7 million people with multi-cluster assistance and protection services out of 24.8 million in need of assistance.”

Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Salwa Adam last week announced that 60 aid trucks would be allowed to cross from Adré to El Geneina in West Darfur. The authorities in Port Sudan earlier refused to utilise the Adré crossing at the border with Chad to transport aid, citing concerns over the alleged use of the crossing to smuggle weapons for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Darfur Governor Minni Minawi on Wednesday announced an agreement with UN agencies and relief organisations to transport aid from Port Sudan via Ed Debba in northern Sudan to Darfur. Yesterday, he confirmed on his X account that 17 trucks crossed the El Tina border crossing in North Darfur, heading to El Fasher. Another 17 trucks will move from Adré to South Darfur. In northern Sudan, 27 lorries passed Ed Debba on their way from Port Sudan to other Darfur capitals.

The RSF, however, reacted by saying that it would not allow humanitarian aid to be used to supply the army with weapons and ammunition. In a statement on X, the paramilitary group accused Minawi of “diverting relief to his advantage and storing it to exploit it later”.

The Darfur regional government condemned the accusations and stated that hindering the arrival of relief materials is considered a crime against humanity.

The RSF control South, Central, West, and East Darfur, as well as large parts of North Darfur except El Fasher, where battles continue.

Minawi in his position as leader of a Sudan Liberation Movement breakaway faction announced on Sunday that his combatants will fight alongside the Sudanese army in its war against the RSF in Khartoum and El Gezira.