By Adel Abdelrheem and Rania Abu Shamala
KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL (AA)— Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on Thursday that tens of thousands of displaced people have been arriving in the Tawila region of North Darfur state (west) for over six weeks now, amid deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
“In the surroundings of Tawila, North #Darfur, tens of thousands of displaced people are still living in appalling conditions, and lacking of almost everything,” MSF said in a statement posted on X along with a video.
“The situation of the displaced people from Zamzam and El-Fasher remains alarming,” it added.
“The rainy season is looming. It will significantly impede the delivery of humanitarian aid in the region," it said, adding: "MSF keeps calling for an urgent and massive scale-up of the response in Tawila.”
Tawila is located about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of El Fasher.
In a related development, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that 1,946 families have been displaced from the Salha area in southern Omdurman, west of Khartoum, because of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) between May 19 and 28.
It stated that most families have been displaced to other locations within the city, while others sought refuge in different areas of Khartoum.
On May 20, the Sudanese army declared the "cleansing" of Khartoum state in central Sudan of RSF forces, following its takeover of Salha, the RSF’s last stronghold in Omdurman.
El-Fasher has witnessed intense fighting between the Sudanese army and RSF since May 2024, despite international warnings about the risks of violence in a city that serves as a key humanitarian hub for the five Darfur states.
The RSF and the army have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023, resulting in thousands of deaths and pushing Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
More than 20,000 people have been killed and 15 million displaced, according to UN and local figures. However, US-based researchers estimate the actual death toll to be as high as 130,000.