The Government of Peace and Unity's humanitarian access chief has asked UN agencies to scale up in Darfur and Kordofan and reopen offices in El Fasher, as health workers in Tawila warn of rising malnutrition among newly displaced children.
The head of the National Authority for Humanitarian Access in the Tasis-led Government of Peace and Unity, Ezz Eldin Elsafi, has urged UN agencies and international organisations to intensify operations in Darfur and Kordofan, warning that poor rainfall and repeated drought were compounding food shortages, The Sudan Times reported on 3 November.
Speaking outside the office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in El Fasher, Elsafi said the government had prepared an emergency plan with three priorities: securing water supplies, building strategic food reserves to last six months, and protecting livestock from drought. He called for UN offices in El Fasher and other affected areas to reopen to speed up deliveries, and for closer cooperation with the government. Livestock is the main source of income and food for many families in the region.
Malnutrition in Tawila
In Tawila locality, west of El Fasher, health sources told Darfur24 that the only health centre in the New Tina displacement camp was receiving growing numbers of malnourished children, many in a severe condition, including at least 150 cases in a single day late last week. They said the centre lacked medicines, nutritional supplements and staff, and warned that deaths and disease outbreaks could rise without urgent funding. Most cases were among families recently displaced from villages around El Fasher.
The warnings echo recent surveys. Save the Children said last week that an assessment in central Jebel Marra found 57% of children surveyed were stunted and 15% acutely malnourished, linking the findings to worsening drought. According to Darfur24, a survey published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on 13 October found acute malnutrition above famine thresholds in two displacement camps in East Jebel Marra, at 38% and 30.8%.
Access and politics
Tasis controls most of Darfur and parts of Kordofan, and its authorities have repeatedly called for UN agencies to work more directly with them. The UN had not publicly responded to Elsafi's appeal by the time of writing. The army-aligned government in Port Sudan, for its part, has denied that Sudan faces a risk of famine, Darfur24 reported last week.
The appeal comes as fighting continues in parts of North Darfur. The International Organization for Migration last week recorded about 2,000 people newly displaced in the state.
Image: Newly displaced people from El Fasher setting up shelters at the Tawila gathering site, North Darfur, 19 October 2025. Mohamed Elgoni for UN OCHA, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.