23 Sudanese children died from acute malnutrition in Kordofan: Medics

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - Twenty-three children died from acute malnutrition in South Kordofan over the past month, a local medical group said Friday amid a blockade imposed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the southern Sudanese state.

The Sudan Doctors Network said that its field teams documented the deaths between Oct. 20 and Nov. 20 in the cities of Dilling and Kadugli, blaming the fatalities on an RSF blockade that has cut off food, medicine, and basic supplies to the region.

The group warned that thousands of civilians remain at risk as shortages worsen under the imposed siege.

“These deaths are a dangerous alarm bell that reflects the scale of the worsening humanitarian tragedy in the state,” the network said.

It strongly condemned the continuation of the blockade, saying it has caused the collapse of health services and obstructed the delivery of aid – violations it said amount to a breach of international humanitarian law and children’s rights to survival and protection.

The group called on the UN and regional and international humanitarian organizations to urgently open safe corridors and deliver immediate assistance “without delay.”

The network cautioned that the situation could trigger a wider health disaster unless swift action is taken to lift the RSF blockade and restore the flow of food and medicine, “so that this tragedy does not become a recurring reality in other parts of Sudan.”

The rebel group has besieged Kadugli and Dilling for more than a year amid its ongoing war with the Sudanese army.

Earlier this month, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said that famine has been confirmed in the war-scarred city of El-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state and the besieged town of Kadugli in South Kordofan.

On Oct. 26, the RSF militia seized control of El-Fasher and committed massacres of civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the country’s geographical partition.

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.