'Our children dey die before our eye': Rare video show how civilians for locked down Sudan city dey suffer
"Our children dey die bifor our eyes," one of dem tell BBC.
"We no know wetin to do. Dem dey innocent. Dem no get anytin to do wit di army or [dia paramilitary rival] di Rapid Support Forces. Wetin we dey suffer worse pass wetin you fit can imagine."
Food dey very scarce for el-Fasher, di prices of food don go up to di point wey be say money wey we dey use buy food for one week, na only one day food we fit take am buy now.
International aid organisations don condemn di "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war".
Di hunger crisis dey worse wit di outbreak of cholera wey dey sweep through di squalid camps of those wey di crisis displace.
Di medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday, 14 August say Sudan dey experience di worst cholera outbreak di kontri don see in years, wey di ongoing civil war cause.
Sudan don record nearly 100,000 cases and 2,470 deaths ova di past year, authorities say di current epicentre na near el-Fasher.
BBC don get rare footage of pipo wey still dey trapped for di city, wey one local activist send to us, na one freelance cameraman feem di video.
Di Sudanese army dey battle di Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more dan two years afta dia commanders gada stage coup and later fall out.
El-Fasher, for di western Darfur region, na one of di most brutal frontlines for di conflict.
Di paramilitaries tighten dia 14-month blockade afta dem lost control of di capital Khartoum, earlier dis year.
Dem step up dia battle for el-Fasher, di last foothold of di armed forces for Darfur. Di fight-fight escalate dis week into one of di most intense RSF attacks wey di city don witness yet.
For di north and centre of of di kontri wia di army fight to get back territory from di RSF, food and medical aid don add to di civilian suffering.
But di situation dey very serious for di conflict zones of western and southern Sudan.
For di Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen for el-Fasher late last month, volunteers bin turn ambaz into porridge. Dis na wetin dey remain from peanuts afta dem don extract di oil, dem dey normally feed am to animals.
Sometimes, dem dey get sorghum or millet but on di day dem feem, di kitchen manager say: "Flour or bread no dey."
"Now e don reach di point wey be say na ambaz we dey chop. May God deliver us from dis wahala, nothing dey to buy for market," e add.
UN don double dia appeal for humanitarian pause to allow food convoys enta di city, as dia Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett for dis week again beg di warring sides to observe dia obligations under international law.
Di army don give clearance for di trucks to enta but di UN still dey wait for official word from di paramilitary group.
RSF advisers say dem believe say dem go use di humanitarian pause carry food and weapons for di army "besieged militias" wey dey inside el-Fasher.
Dem also claim say di the paramilitary group and dia allies dey set up "safe routes" for civilians to comot di city.
Di RSF bin issue one statement to deny di widespread allegations say dem dey target civilians for el-Fasher, dem claim say local armed groups for di city dey use civilians as human shields.
For residents of di city, di battle na to remain alive wen dem begin attack and hustle for any food dem fit get.
Local responders fit receive some emergency cash through one digital banking system, but e no dey go very far.
"Di prices for markets don go very high," Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for di Norwegian Refugee Council tok.
"Today, $5,000 [£3,680] dey cover one meal for 1,500 pipo inside one single day. Three months ago, di same amount fit feed them for one week."
Doctors say pipo dey die of malnutrition. E no dey possible to know how many - one report wey quote one regional health official put di number at more dan 60 last week.
Hospitals no fit cope. Few of dem still dey operate. Dem dey short of medical supplies to help di pipo wey dey starve, and those injured for di continuous attacks.
"We get many malnourished children wey dey admitted for hospital but unfortunately, we no get any single sachet of [therapeutic food]," Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, one paediatrician for di Al Saudi Hospital tok, e say five severely malnourished children currently dey for di ward and dem also get medical complications.
"Dem just dey wait to die," e tok.
Wen hunger crises hit, those wey usually dey die first na di most vulnerable, pipo wey no dey healthy or those wey dey suffer from pre-existing conditions.
"Di situation dey very worse, e dey very terrible," di doctor tell us for one voice message.
"Di children of el-Fasher dey die on a daily basis sake of lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, di international community just dey look."
International non-governmental organisations wey dey work for Sudan issue one urgent statement dis week wia dem declare say "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break di civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".
Dem tok say "unconfirmed reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to di suffering of civilians".
"No safe passage dey out of di city, as roads dey blocked and those wey try to run dey face attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," di organisations tok.
Hundreds of thousands of people bin run earlier, many of dem from Zamzam displaced persons camp wey dey di edge of el-Fasher, wey di RSF seize for April.
Dem land for Tawila, one town wey dey 60km (37 miles) west of di city, weak and dehydrated, wit accounts of violence and extortion along di road from RSF-allied groups.
Life dey safer for di crowded camps, but disease dey kill dem - most deadly of all: na cholera, wey polluted water dey cause.
Destruction of water infrastructure plus lack of food and medical care trigger di outbreak. Flooding for di rainy season come make am worse.
Unlike el-Fasher, for Tawila aid workers at least get access, but dia supplies dey limited, John Joseph Ocheibi, di on-site project coordinator for one group wey di name na The Alliance for International Medical Action tok.
"We get shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to fit deal wit dis situation," e tell BBC. "We dey hustle for resources to see how best we go fit respond."
MSF project coordinator Sylvain Penicaud estimate say na only three litres of water each pesin fit get per day for di camps, wey e say dey "way below di basic need, and e force pipo to get water from contaminated sources".
Zubaida Ismail Ishaq dey lie down for di tent clinic. She dey seven months pregnant, she dey weak, skinny and tired. Her story na tale of trauma wey many pipo know.
She tell us say she bin dey do business wit di small money she get, bifor she run comot from el-Fasher.
Armed men on di road to Tawila capture her husband. Her daughter get injury for head.
Zubaida and her mother catch cholera shortly afta dem land for di camp.
"We dey drink water wey we no boil," she tok. "Nobody dey to give us water. Since we come here, I no get anytin."
For el-Fasher, many women wey dey di clustered soup kitchen beg us for help - any kind of help.
"We don tire. We want make dem lift dis siege," Faiza Abkar Mohammed tok. "Even if dem airdrop food, airdrop anything – we dey completely exhausted."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
3 women in Gambia are charged in the death of one-month-old in female genital mutilation case
Three women were charged in Gambia over the death of a one-month-old girl who had undergone female genital mutilation, the police said, in the first such case since the country stopped short of reversing a ban on the practice last year. The West African nation banned female genital cutting in 2015, but the country was rocked by a renewed debate about the practice last year following the first prosecutions of female cutters. It was the first time the practice — also known as female circumcision and outlawed in many nations — was publicly discussed. Eventually, the Gambian parliament upheld the ban, but many say the practice continues in secrecy. Three women were charged Tuesday under the ban, the Women's (Amendment) Act, 2015, the Gambian police said in a statement published Wednesday on social media. One woman is facing life imprisonment, and the other two were charged as accomplices. 'Preliminary findings indicate the child was allegedly subjected to circumcision and later developed severe bleeding,' the police said in a separate statement published Sunday, following the infant's death. 'She was rushed to Bundung Maternal and Child Health Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.' The United Nations estimates that about 75% of women in Gambia have been subjected as young girls to the procedure known by its initials FGM, which includes partial or full removal of a girl's external genitalia. The World Health Organization says it's a form of torture. More than 200 million women and girls across the world are survivors of FGM, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to U.N. estimates. In the past eight years alone, some 30 million women globally have been cut, most of them in Africa but also in Asia and the Middle East, UNICEF said last year. The procedure, typically performed by older women or traditional community practitioners, is often done with tools such as razor blades and can cause serious bleeding, death and complications later in life, including in childbirth. Supporters of the procedure argue that cutting is rooted in Gambia's culture and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Religious conservatives behind the campaign to reverse the ban described cutting as 'one of the virtues of Islam.' Those against FGM said its supporters are seeking to curtail women's rights in the name of tradition. The chair of the National Human Rights Commission, Emmanuel Daniel Joof, called the incident 'a national wake-up call and added: 'Our task now is clear: enforce it (the law) fully and fairly, without fear or favor.' Civil society groups expressed 'sorrow and outrage' over the death of the one-month-old girl. ' Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done, to send a strong message that the rights and lives of girls in The Gambia are not negotiable,' the Banjul-based Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice said in a statement. However, the collective Concerned Citizens called on Gambia government to stop targeting female circumcisers. 'The people of The Gambia have consistently expressed, through various lawful means, their opposition to the ban and have instructed their elected Members of Parliament to repeal the said prohibition,' they said in a statement.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
'Our children dey die before our eye': Rare video show how civilians for locked down Sudan city dey suffer
Di women for di community kitchen for di war torn Sudanese city of el-Fasher siddon togeda in desperation. "Our children dey die bifor our eyes," one of dem tell BBC. "We no know wetin to do. Dem dey innocent. Dem no get anytin to do wit di army or [dia paramilitary rival] di Rapid Support Forces. Wetin we dey suffer worse pass wetin you fit can imagine." Food dey very scarce for el-Fasher, di prices of food don go up to di point wey be say money wey we dey use buy food for one week, na only one day food we fit take am buy now. International aid organisations don condemn di "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war". Di hunger crisis dey worse wit di outbreak of cholera wey dey sweep through di squalid camps of those wey di crisis displace. Di medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday, 14 August say Sudan dey experience di worst cholera outbreak di kontri don see in years, wey di ongoing civil war cause. Sudan don record nearly 100,000 cases and 2,470 deaths ova di past year, authorities say di current epicentre na near el-Fasher. BBC don get rare footage of pipo wey still dey trapped for di city, wey one local activist send to us, na one freelance cameraman feem di video. Di Sudanese army dey battle di Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more dan two years afta dia commanders gada stage coup and later fall out. El-Fasher, for di western Darfur region, na one of di most brutal frontlines for di conflict. Di paramilitaries tighten dia 14-month blockade afta dem lost control of di capital Khartoum, earlier dis year. Dem step up dia battle for el-Fasher, di last foothold of di armed forces for Darfur. Di fight-fight escalate dis week into one of di most intense RSF attacks wey di city don witness yet. For di north and centre of of di kontri wia di army fight to get back territory from di RSF, food and medical aid don add to di civilian suffering. But di situation dey very serious for di conflict zones of western and southern Sudan. For di Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen for el-Fasher late last month, volunteers bin turn ambaz into porridge. Dis na wetin dey remain from peanuts afta dem don extract di oil, dem dey normally feed am to animals. Sometimes, dem dey get sorghum or millet but on di day dem feem, di kitchen manager say: "Flour or bread no dey." "Now e don reach di point wey be say na ambaz we dey chop. May God deliver us from dis wahala, nothing dey to buy for market," e add. UN don double dia appeal for humanitarian pause to allow food convoys enta di city, as dia Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett for dis week again beg di warring sides to observe dia obligations under international law. Di army don give clearance for di trucks to enta but di UN still dey wait for official word from di paramilitary group. RSF advisers say dem believe say dem go use di humanitarian pause carry food and weapons for di army "besieged militias" wey dey inside el-Fasher. Dem also claim say di the paramilitary group and dia allies dey set up "safe routes" for civilians to comot di city. Di RSF bin issue one statement to deny di widespread allegations say dem dey target civilians for el-Fasher, dem claim say local armed groups for di city dey use civilians as human shields. For residents of di city, di battle na to remain alive wen dem begin attack and hustle for any food dem fit get. Local responders fit receive some emergency cash through one digital banking system, but e no dey go very far. "Di prices for markets don go very high," Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for di Norwegian Refugee Council tok. "Today, $5,000 [£3,680] dey cover one meal for 1,500 pipo inside one single day. Three months ago, di same amount fit feed them for one week." Doctors say pipo dey die of malnutrition. E no dey possible to know how many - one report wey quote one regional health official put di number at more dan 60 last week. Hospitals no fit cope. Few of dem still dey operate. Dem dey short of medical supplies to help di pipo wey dey starve, and those injured for di continuous attacks. "We get many malnourished children wey dey admitted for hospital but unfortunately, we no get any single sachet of [therapeutic food]," Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, one paediatrician for di Al Saudi Hospital tok, e say five severely malnourished children currently dey for di ward and dem also get medical complications. "Dem just dey wait to die," e tok. Wen hunger crises hit, those wey usually dey die first na di most vulnerable, pipo wey no dey healthy or those wey dey suffer from pre-existing conditions. "Di situation dey very worse, e dey very terrible," di doctor tell us for one voice message. "Di children of el-Fasher dey die on a daily basis sake of lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, di international community just dey look." International non-governmental organisations wey dey work for Sudan issue one urgent statement dis week wia dem declare say "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break di civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion". Dem tok say "unconfirmed reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to di suffering of civilians". "No safe passage dey out of di city, as roads dey blocked and those wey try to run dey face attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," di organisations tok. Hundreds of thousands of people bin run earlier, many of dem from Zamzam displaced persons camp wey dey di edge of el-Fasher, wey di RSF seize for April. Dem land for Tawila, one town wey dey 60km (37 miles) west of di city, weak and dehydrated, wit accounts of violence and extortion along di road from RSF-allied groups. Life dey safer for di crowded camps, but disease dey kill dem - most deadly of all: na cholera, wey polluted water dey cause. Destruction of water infrastructure plus lack of food and medical care trigger di outbreak. Flooding for di rainy season come make am worse. Unlike el-Fasher, for Tawila aid workers at least get access, but dia supplies dey limited, John Joseph Ocheibi, di on-site project coordinator for one group wey di name na The Alliance for International Medical Action tok. "We get shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to fit deal wit dis situation," e tell BBC. "We dey hustle for resources to see how best we go fit respond." MSF project coordinator Sylvain Penicaud estimate say na only three litres of water each pesin fit get per day for di camps, wey e say dey "way below di basic need, and e force pipo to get water from contaminated sources". Zubaida Ismail Ishaq dey lie down for di tent clinic. She dey seven months pregnant, she dey weak, skinny and tired. Her story na tale of trauma wey many pipo know. She tell us say she bin dey do business wit di small money she get, bifor she run comot from el-Fasher. Armed men on di road to Tawila capture her husband. Her daughter get injury for head. Zubaida and her mother catch cholera shortly afta dem land for di camp. "We dey drink water wey we no boil," she tok. "Nobody dey to give us water. Since we come here, I no get anytin." For el-Fasher, many women wey dey di clustered soup kitchen beg us for help - any kind of help. "We don tire. We want make dem lift dis siege," Faiza Abkar Mohammed tok. "Even if dem airdrop food, airdrop anything – we dey completely exhausted."
The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
Malnourished kids arrive daily at a Gaza hospital as Netanyahu denies hunger
The dead body of 2 1/2-year-old Ro'a Mashi lay on the table in Gaza's Nasser Hospital, her arms and rib cage skeletal, her eyes sunken in her skull. Doctors say she had no preexisting conditions and wasted away over months as her family struggled to find food and treatment. Her family showed The Associated Press a photo of Ro'a's body at the hospital, and it was confirmed by the doctor who received her remains. Several days after she died, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told local media, 'There is no hunger. There was no hunger. There was a shortage, and there was certainly no policy of starvation.' In the face of international outcry, Netanyahu has pushed back, saying reports of starvation are 'lies' promoted by Hamas. However, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric this week warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began. The U.N. says nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found to have acute malnutrition in July — including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organization says the numbers are likely an undercount. The past two weeks, Israel has allowed around triple the amount of food into Gaza than had been entering since late May. That followed 2 1/2 months when Israel barred all food, medicine and other supplies, saying it was to pressure Hamas to release hostages taken during its 2023 attack that launched the war. The new influx has brought more food within reach for some of the population and lowered some prices in marketplaces, though it remains far more expensive than prewar levels and unaffordable for many. While better food access might help much of Gaza's population, 'it won't help the children who are severely malnourished,' said Alex DeWaal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, who has worked on famine and humanitarian issues for more than 40 years. When a person is severely malnourished, vital micronutrients are depleted and bodily functions deteriorate. Simply feeding the person can cause harm, known as 'refeeding syndrome,' potentially leading to seizures, coma or death. Instead, micronutrients must first be replenished with supplements and therapeutic milk in a hospital. 'We're talking about thousands of kids who need to be in hospital if they're going to have a chance of survival,' DeWaal said. 'If this approach of increasing the food supply had been undertaken two months ago, probably many of those kids would not have gotten into this situation.' Any improvement is also threatened by a planned new Israeli offensive that Netanyahu says will capture Gaza City and the tent camps where most of the territory's population is located. That will prompt a huge new wave of displacement and disrupt food delivery, U.N. and aid officials warn. Preexisting conditions The Gaza Health Ministry says 42 children died of malnutrition-related causes since July 1, along with 129 adults. It says 106 children have died of malnutrition during the entire war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and its figures on casualties are seen by the U.N. and other experts as the most reliable. The Israeli military Tuesday pointed to the fact that some children who died had preexisting conditions, arguing their deaths were 'unrelated to their nutritional status.' It said a review by its experts had concluded there are 'no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon' in Gaza. At his press briefing Sunday, Netanyahu spoke in front of a screen reading 'Fake Starving Children' over photos of skeletal children with preexisting conditions. He accused Hamas of starving the remaining Israeli hostages and repeated claims the militant group is diverting large amounts of aid, a claim the U.N. denies. Doctors in Gaza acknowledge that some of those dying or starving have chronic conditions, including cerebral palsy, rickets or genetic disorders, some of which make children more vulnerable to malnutrition. However, those conditions are manageable when food and proper medical treatments are available, they say. 'The worsening shortages of food led to these cases' swift deterioration,' said Dr. Yasser Abu Ghali, head of Nasser's pediatrics unit. 'Malnutrition was the main factor in their deaths.' Of 13 emaciated children whose cases the AP has seen since late July, five had no preexisting conditions — including three who died — according to doctors. Abu Ghali spoke next to the body of Jamal al-Najjar, a 5-year-old who died Tuesday of malnutrition and was born with rickets, which hinders the ability to metabolize vitamins, weakening bones. In the past months, the boy's weight fell from 16 kilograms to 7 (35 pounds to 15), said his father, Fadi al-Najjar, whose lean face showed his own hunger. Asked about Netanyahu's claim there was no hunger in Gaza, he pointed at Jamal's protruding rib cage. 'Of course there's famine,' he said. 'Does a 5-year-old child's chest normally come to look like this?' Skin and bones Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, Nasser's general director of pediatrics, said the facility receives 10-20 children with severe malnutrition a day, and the numbers are rising. On Sunday, a severely malnourished 2-year-old, Shamm Qudeih, cried in pain in her hospital bed. Her arms, legs and ribs were skeletal, her belly inflated. 'She has lost all fat and muscle,' al-Farra said. She weighed 4 kilograms (9 pounds), a third of a 2-year-old's normal weight. Doctors suspect Shamm suffers from a rare genetic condition called glycogen storage disease, which changes how the body uses and stores glycogen, a form of sugar, and can impact muscle and bone development. But they can't test for it in Gaza, al-Farra said. Normally, the condition can be managed through a high-carbohydrate diet. Her family applied a year ago for medical evacuation, joining a list of thousands the WHO says need urgent treatment abroad. For months, Israel slowed evacuations to a near standstill or halted them for long stretches. But it appears to be stepping up permissions, with more than 60 allowed to leave in the first week of August, according to the U.N. Permission for Shamm to leave Gaza finally came this week, and on Wednesday, she was heading to a hospital in Italy. A child died in her family's tent Ro'a was one of four dead children who suffered from malnutrition brought to Nasser over the course of just over two weeks, doctors say. Her mother, Fatma Mashi, said she first noticed Ro'a losing weight last year, but she thought it was because she was teething. When she took Ro'a to Nasser Hospital in October, the child was severely malnourished, according to al-Farra, who said Ro'a had no preexisting conditions. At the time, in the last months of 2024, Israel had reduced aid entry to some of the lowest levels of the war. The family was also displaced multiple times by Israeli military operations. Each move interrupted Ro'a's treatment as it took time to find a clinic to get nutritional supplements, Mashi said. The family was reduced to one meal a day — often boiled macaroni — but 'whatever she ate, it didn't change anything in her,' Mashi said. Two weeks ago, they moved into the tent camps of Muwasi on Gaza's southern coast. Ro'a's decline accelerated. "I could tell it was only a matter of two or three more days,' Mashi said in the family's tent Friday, the day after she had died. Mashi and her husband Amin both looked gaunt, their cheeks and eyes hollow. Their five surviving children – including a baby born this year -- are thin, but not nearly as emaciated as Ro'a. DeWaal said it's not unusual in famines for one family member to be far worse than others. 'Most often it will be a kid who is 18 months or 2 years' who is most vulnerable, he said, while older siblings are 'more robust.' But any number of things can set one child into a spiral of malnutrition, such as an infection or troubles after weaning. 'A very small thing can push them over.' ___
