In a distressing development reported on Monday, Doctors Without Borders has been compelled to cease operations at Sudan’s Zamzam camp due to escalating hostilities in the area. The humanitarian organization, known in French as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has been providing crucial medical aid amidst a dire famine crisis. However, increased conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces in North Darfur has made it untenable for MSF to continue its critical work.
The organization declared that the intensifying clashes have rendered it “impossible” to deliver lifesaving assistance to thousands of displaced individuals in the region. Consequently, all activities, including those at MSF’s field hospital, have been suspended. “Halting our project in the midst of a worsening disaster in Zamzam is a heartbreaking decision,” lamented Yahya Kalilah, the mission head for Sudan, acknowledging the difficult position they are in.
Violence proximity, challenges in supply routes, the inability to deploy experienced personnel, and uncertainty regarding escape paths compounded the decision to halt operations, as per Kalilah’s insights. Since April 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in civil unrest following clashes between government forces and the RSF, resulting in over 24,000 fatalities, and uprooting more than 14 million people, with various regions collapsing into famine.
The MSF highlighted the ramping up of conflict in Zamzam on February 11-12, where the facility treated 130 injured patients, primarily those with gunshot and shrapnel injuries. The emergency field hospital, originally targeting malnutrition issues, was ill-equipped for major trauma surgeries, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
Tragically, 11 patients, including five children, died due to the inability to administer adequate treatment or transfer them to a hospital in El Fasher, the regional capital. This dire situation has been further exasperated by the compromised access to essential resources, with the central market suffering from extensive looting and arson.
Zamzam camp is home to approximately 500,000 refugees and swathes of newly displaced families fleeing violence in Abu Zerega, Shagra, and Saluma. They have recounted harrowing stories of human rights abuses en route to El Fasher, encompassing killings, sexual assaults, pillaging, and physical assaults. Kalilah revealed that recent months have seen life-threatening attacks on ambulances transporting patients to El Fasher.
Now facing an exacerbated threat level, many individuals, particularly those needing critical trauma care or emergency medical procedures like caesarean sections, find themselves trapped in the increasingly perilous conditions at Zamzam camp, as the conflict continues to tighten its grip on the region.