indah-permata
Hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians sheltering in the town of Tawila in North Darfur are confronting catastrophic humanitarian conditions, as severe shortages of emergency shelter, food, and basic healthcare leave vast numbers of families exposed to extreme weather and fatal diseases.
In the Daba Naira displacement camp, located roughly 68 kilometres west of the North Darfur state capital of el-Fasher, rows of blue tents have been erected to offer basic protection. These temporary structures were installed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in coordination with and supported by the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.
Despite these relief interventions, the scale of assistance remains profoundly inadequate when measured against the massive influx of people fleeing active warfare. Humanitarian teams have constructed 3,000 new tents across recent months, yet the IOM has emphasized that this supply is negligible in comparison to the critical shelter requirements of more than 665,000 displaced people gathered in the area.
The acute shortage of durable housing is further compounded by deteriorating environmental conditions. The arrival of seasonal rains threatens to transform the low-lying camp terrain into waterlogged swamps, while outbreaks of fire have simultaneously swept through displacement sites. As a consequence, thousands of families remain stranded beneath worn and tattered canopies that provide virtually no defense against violent winds, torrential downpours, scorching daytime heat, or chilling night temperatures.
Abdelbagi Mohamed Hamid, the minister of social welfare and humanitarian affairs coordinator for the Darfur region, indicated that regional authorities have actively lobbied international donors, including the Turkish ambassador, to secure emergency shelter materials for the growing displaced population.
Through these appeals, Turkiye allocated 30,000 tents intended for distribution across Darfur and Kordofan via the IOM. According to Abdelbagi, 3,000 of a planned 6,000 tents have been assembled at the Daba Naira camp in Tawila. Furthermore, approximately 2,450 tents have been transferred to the Salam, al-Wihda, and al-Nakheel camps situated within the Shaeria locality across South and East Darfur.
Abdelbagi highlighted that the humanitarian emergency spans far beyond Tawila, noting that the Malha locality represents the area with the most critical need for emergency aid in Darfur, followed by the Tina, Karnoy, and Um Baru areas.
To mitigate the escalating disaster, the minister urged the immediate opening of the Tina border crossing. Reopening this vital transport route is essential to facilitate the transit of relief convoys into isolated territories that are currently crippled by severe deficits of food supplies, essential medicines, and fuel as ongoing conflict deepens their seclusion.
The humanitarian coordinator warned that distributing emergency tents alone will not resolve the broader catastrophe, stressing that an approaching famine could ultimately prove far deadlier than armed combat if relief agencies remain unable to access affected communities.
Health conditions throughout the overcrowded camps are declining at an alarming rate. The IOM has cautioned that basic services are collapsing as overcrowding and poor sanitation fuel the rapid transmission of preventable illnesses. The absence of clean drinking water has triggered widespread outbreaks of cholera, acute watery diarrhoea, and various skin infections, while aid organizations struggle to scale up infrastructure to match the unrelenting speed of displacement.
Displaced residents inside the camp have voiced profound despair regarding the lack of assistance. Ahmed Mousa, who sought refuge at Daba Naira after fleeing el-Fasher, explained that the newly provided shelters do not fulfill even a tenth of the actual requirement, leaving crowds of people to sleep outdoors in the rain while children succumb to sickness without medical intervention.
Fatima Ibrahim, another displaced person residing in the camp, recounted that families abandoned their homes in el-Fasher in search of safety, only to find themselves defenseless against starvation, illness, and harsh elements. She noted that people are dying rapidly from hunger and disease, with parents watching their children fall ill without access to basic medicine, leaving many to sleep directly on the bare ground.
The threat of widespread starvation has been underscored by the Darfur region's Minister of Agriculture, Al-Sadiq Barango, who warned that famine poses a danger potentially more severe than the war itself. This food crisis is accelerated by reduced seasonal rainfall alongside the extensive drying of arable farmland and traditional grazing areas.
Barango explained that the prolonged conflict has forced agricultural workers to abandon their lands entirely. Additionally, agricultural areas—particularly fruit orchards and commercial cash-crop plantations—have suffered widespread destruction and targeted attacks by armed groups, shattering local food production systems.
Describing the unfolding reality as ominous markers of an impending catastrophe, the agriculture minister appealed for immediate international intervention to deliver emergency sustenance, warning that catastrophic starvation threatens thousands of vulnerable people across Sudan, with Darfur bearing the heaviest burden following years of war and the structural collapse of its agricultural foundation.
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