1,700+ children battle severe malnutrition in Sudan's Tawila camp
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Humanitarian aid struggles to keep pace as over one million displaced people flood the Tawila camp, fleeing conflict in North Darfur.
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A Sudanese who fled el-Fasher city ties her tent at Tawila camp in North Darfur, Sudan, Sunday, Nov 2, 2025 (AP)
At least 1,700 children are suffering from severe malnutrition in the Tawila displacement camp in North Darfur, one of Sudan's largest sites for internally displaced people, Anadolu reported Friday, citing a local organization.
The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees, a Sudanese civil group, confirmed that two-thirds of Sudan's population is currently in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, whether inside displacement camps or within host communities in rural areas, villages, and nomadic regions.
The Tawila camp, located 60 kilometers west of El Fasher, has received more than one million displaced people since battles started between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. The vast majority arriving at the camp are women, who make up 70% of displaced persons, along with children and people with disabilities.
The RSF's siege of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has pushed hundreds of thousands of newly displaced people into the camp in catastrophic conditions marked by hunger, injuries, and extreme hardship.
Following the RSF's capture of El Fasher on October 26, an additional 100,000 people fled to Tawila, arriving in states of extreme fatigue, dehydration, and hunger after days of fleeing on foot.
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Alarming malnutrition rates among children
Among children newly arrived in Tawila from El Fasher, acute malnutrition rates exceed 70% for those under five years old. The extreme malnutrition stems from compounding factors, as both the Zamzam camp and areas in El Fasher were confirmed to have famine conditions in 2024, meaning arrivals to Tawila were already severely malnourished when they reached the camp.
El Fasher endured an 18-month siege before its fall, during which an estimated 6,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition were left without treatment after UNICEF suspended medical services due to depleted supplies.
The latest field data from the General Coordination showed that 1,600 people have faced gender-based violence, 3,100 have been wounded by gunfire, 3,600 elderly people are experiencing severe malnutrition, and more than seven million people are now internally displaced across Darfur.
Famine declared in multiple locations
The Sudan Doctors Network said Friday that its field teams documented the deaths of 23 children from acute malnutrition in the cities of Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan over the past month, blaming the fatalities on an RSF blockade that has cut off food, medicine, and basic supplies to the region.
Earlier this month, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification confirmed that famine has been declared in El Fasher and Kadugli, with at least 20 additional localities at risk if violence escalates or humanitarian access continues to be blocked.
Mass atrocities following El Fasher's fall
On October 26, the RSF seized control of El Fasher after a 17-month siege. The takeover has been marked by credible reports of mass atrocities, with the UN Human Rights Office receiving multiple reports of summary executions, ethnically motivated killings, and sexual violence targeting women and girls.
Sudan faces the world's most severe humanitarian crisis, with over 30 million people, nearly two-thirds of the population, requiring urgent humanitarian assistance. Nearly 13 million people have been displaced since April 2023, making it the world's largest displacement crisis.
