Famine declared in Zamzam Displacement Camp. How you can help.
Independent experts confirm famine is ongoing inside Zamzam Displacement Camp near El Fasher, North Darfur. The area is under siege by the genocidal Rapid Support Forces. The camp is also home to Team Zamzam, a group of 20 female counselors who are providing emergency aid to the most needy, with fundraising support from Operation Broken Silence.
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In a grim report published yesterday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) Famine Review Committee says famine in Zamzam likely began a month ago and that catastrophic conditions will continue through October and beyond as the siege continues.
We have been covering the threat of famine on our website, monthly newsletter, and social media for several months, so we won’t rehash all of the details of how we got here. It is worth reemphasizing though that this remains a crisis of choice. Army generals are blocking widespread aid access in Sudan, while RSF commanders are choking off the greater El Fasher area, now the only remaining army foothold in all of Darfur. For a deeper dive into the famine and our response, please see our July post here.
Map: Zamzam location. (Operation Broken Silence)
The IPC report closely matches anecdotal accounts of extreme hunger and acute malnutrition we have received from Zamzam over the past several weeks. There are four key excerpts from the report we want to pull forward:
“Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Zamzam are facing increasing challenges to access food. Households are no longer consuming multiple large diversified meals per day and many are only having one meal per day. The major constraint for IDPs is financial access to food as the price of staples and other main commodities have soared.”
“Conflict and insecurity continue to shrink the humanitarian space, with access limited to the few actors who are willing and able to continue operating in this unsafe space. While large scale humanitarian operations by the United Nations and other international organizations are not feasible under these conditions, local and community organizations…are functional. While a trickle of supplies, both food and non-food, is coming in through informal trade, local traders are taking big risks to supply these markets.”
“The delivery of humanitarian food security assistance (HFA) is likely to continue to be disrupted by blockage of road and reduced access to affected areas. Low chances of high-scale delivery of HFA in El Fasher and Zamzam due to roadblocks, insecurity…Even in case of the opening of corridors, a delivery of HFA at scale will take more than two months.”
“Detailed information regarding the current level of non-trauma mortality in Zamzam camp is not available due to the inability to conduct surveys and the disruption of the health information system, coupled with the limited capacity of personnel in the camp. There has likely been an increase in deaths and that many of these deaths may be happening at home due to the difficulties in accessing health facilities. An analysis of satellite imagery of graves in cemeteries in and around displacement camps, including Zamzam camp…suggested a disproportionate increase in the number of graves adjacent to the camps. In Zamzam camp, in particular, it was estimated a 26% faster growth in the number of graves between 18 December 2023 and 3 May 2024, compared to a similar period of last year.”
To translate all of this in the simplest of terms: people are dying of starvation right now. The IPC notes elsewhere that armed conflict has also decimated medical, clean water, and sanitation services. Measles cases and other diseases with epidemic potential are now being reported in Zamzam and could get worse, especially since heavy seasonal rains are currently flooding the camp.
How You Can Help
Left photo: A special food distribution for hungry children. Right photo: Team Zamzam members prepare to distribute emergency food relief. (Team Zamzam)
Team Zamzam consists of 20 female counselors who are distributing food, sanitizing soap, and medicine to the disabled and blind, the very elderly, unaccompanied children, widows who have taken in children, and those with severe acute malnutrition. They have also provided counseling to over 4,000 women who were sexually assaulted.
In July, Team Zamzam visited two shelter centers housing new arrivals from El Fasher. Out of the more than 3,600 displaced families there, the counselors were able to provide food relief to 892 of them. They need at least $20,000 per month to continue saving lives in this fashion, and more will help them expand their services.
All we can do is provide as much funding as possible to help more people survive until a major humanitarian intervention gets underway. Your one-time donation or monthly gift can:
$2,500 - increase the supply of clean water by repairing a broken well.
$1,000 - help provide medicines, sanitary kits, soap, and surgical masks.
$500 - help deliver food assistance to those most in need.
$200 - support two counselers for one month.
$100 - support one counselor for one month.
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Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Zamzam written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
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Independent experts have confirmed famine is ongoing inside Zamzam Displacement Camp near El Fasher, North Darfur. Learn more and help: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/famine-declared-in-zamzam-displacement-camp-how-you-can-help
A new report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) Famine Review Committee says famine in Zamzam likely began a month ago and that catastrophic conditions will continue through October and beyond as the siege continues. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/famine-declared-in-zamzam-displacement-camp-how-you-can-help
It’s not in the news, but the world’s largest humanitarian emergency is unfolding in Sudan. Here’s an update on just one camp where displaced people are beginning to starve to death. You can help save lives, too. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/famine-declared-in-zamzam-displacement-camp-how-you-can-help
