Besieged city in Sudan has become ‘an epicentre of child suffering,’ UNICEF warns

CAIRO (AP) — A city in Sudan’s western region is facing a “devastating tragedy” as the remaining population of about 260,000 people, half of them children, remain trapped after being besieged by a paramilitary group, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

El-Fasher, the provonical capital of North Darfur province, has been at the epicenter of fighting for over a year between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support forces, or RSF.

The U.N.’s children’s agency says least 600,000 people have been displaced from el-Fasher and surrounding camps in recent months, but inside the city there are still 260,000 civilians — including 130,000 children — living in “desperate conditions” after been cut off from aid for more than 16 months. It says an estimated 6,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition are at risk of death.

The paramilitaries have imposed a siege around the city, cutting off supply lines, UNICEF said in a statement. El-Fasher has become “an epicentre of child suffering, with malnutrition, disease, and violence claiming young lives daily,” it said.

“We are witnessing a devastating tragedy – children in el-Fasher are starving while UNICEF’s lifesaving nutrition services are being blocked,” said Catherine Russell, the agency’s executive director.

“Blocking humanitarian access is a grave violation of children’s rights, and the lives of children are hanging in the balance,” Russell said.

UNICEF said it is calling on Sudan’s government “and all other concerned parties” to ensure “sustained, unimpeded, and safe access to reach children wherever they are in Sudan.” It also wants an immediate and sustained humanitarian pause in el-Fasher and across other conflict-affected areas and unimpeded humanitarian access for the delivery of food, medicines, water, and other essentials.

The war broke out in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere across the African country.

El-Fasher is the military’s last stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region. The RSF has been trying to seize the city since April 2024 and has been the focus of a bombing campaign during which more than 1,000 children have been killed or maimed, according to UNICEF.

The Sudan war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 14 million people and pushing parts of the country into famine, and disease outbreaks. The war has killed tens of thousands, and marked by atrocities including mass killings and rape, which the International Criminal Court is investigating as war crimes and crimes against humanity.