Trending 
The United Nations (UN) warned on Friday that the humanitarian situation in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid is worsening rapidly as displacement camps swell with thousands of new arrivals.
UN officials have cautioned for weeks that the blockaded city could face horrific atrocities similar to those committed during the paramilitary assault on the Darfur city of El-Fasher in October last year.
Fleeing families from the wider Kordofan region have effectively doubled El-Obeid’s population to over one million people, severely straining local resources.
Following a field visit on Thursday, World Food Programme (WFP) Sudan Country Director Abdallah Alwardat confirmed that the city faces critical shortages of food, water, and fuel.
While more than 120,000 displaced people currently live in official camps, hundreds of thousands of others must shelter with host communities or construct makeshift shelters.
The ongoing war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—which erupted in April 2023—has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced over 11 million nationwide, plunging several areas into famine.
The RSF has encircled El-Obeid, a strategic southern Kordofan hub, for months, trapping vulnerable populations and forcing families to share highly diminished aid rations.
Although resource constraints limit their reach, the WFP plans to scale up operations to provide food assistance to more than 250,000 people in the area if security conditions permit.
