Sudan has been ravaged by civil war for nearly three years. The last hospital in the city of Al Fashir (or El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur) has been bombed more than 30 times in the last couple of years. At least 70 patients and staff were killed in January 2025 when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force formerly operated by the Government of Sudan, fired a missile from a drone into a crowded ward of the hospital. Most of the patients, including children, have nothing but a few bones in their bodies. However, sufficient food is not available in the hospital. Hence, children and even doctors depend on animal feed for survival.

The New York Times recently quoted Doctor Omar Selik as saying: “An estimated 260,000 civilians trapped in El Fasher are trying to survive bombardment in a city with vanishingly little food.” According to Selik, both the patients and the doctors are consuming animal feed as there is nothing else to eat there. Currently, the diet of most of the people is a mixture made from crushed peanuts that is usually fed to cows, camels and donkeys.

The civil war began three years ago with clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary RSF. Since then, approximately 12 million people have been displaced and more than 150,000 have been killed in the third-largest African country. Meanwhile, famine has rocked Sudan. It may be noted that Al Fasher is the last major city in the Darfur region still held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). It has come under renewed attacks by RSF fighters since the paramilitary was ousted from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum in 2025.

The paramilitary forces have surrounded this city in western Darfur for more than 18 months. It has become extremely difficult to send food and relief materials to Al Fasher which faces an acute food crisis. Now, the residents have only two options: either stay there or flee. Staying in that city means living in constant fear of bombings or dying of starvation. There is no escape even if one runs away as there is a risk of murder, robbery or physical assault (including rape). Yet, more than 500,000 people have fled Al Fasher, risking their lives, since April 2025. Life has become miserable for nearly 260,000 people who are still there.

Referring to the RSF, Taha Khater, an aid worker, told The New York Times: “Those thugs have declared repeatedly that they intend to wipe us out. Please, we are dying before the eyes of the whole world and no one is speaking up.” He has claimed that people are paying USD 73 for one kilogram of pasta in Al Fasher, stressing that food items are being sold at more than 10 times the normal price. It is beyond the reach of the common man. The city has not received UN relief materials for more than a year because of drone attacks. In June 2025, a drone attack targeted a convoy of 15 aid trucks, killing five UN workers. At least 14 children have died of malnutrition while undergoing treatment in the last couple of weeks due to the emerging situation.

According to residents of Al Fasher, both sides are targeting hospitals. There were about 200 health centres in the city before the civil war began on April 15, 2023. Now, there is only one – Al Saudi Hospital. A handful of doctors are still fighting an unequal battle there, in spite of bomb attacks, lack of food and dwindling supply of medicines. Nearly 70 patients and health workers were killed in an RSF drone strike in January 2025. Now, everyone takes shelter in the bunker during armed conflicts.

Malnourished children, as well as doctors, have no other option, but to consume animal feed for survival. The animal feed, locally known as ambaz, is not at all safe. A study shows that 64.29% of the samples of ambaz were contaminated by a special type of fungus during the rainy season. The fungus can lead to infection and sometimes even death. Reports suggest that 18 people have died from infections after eating ambaz in the past few weeks. However, the lives of nearly 250,000 people currently depend on it.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das