Foro Baranga — Dozens of people reportedly died of hunger in the Foro Baranga camp for the displaced in West Darfur in the past three months after international aid organisations stopped distributing goods in the camp.

Since international relief organisations stopped distributing aid to the displaced living in the Foro Baranga camp, the situation quickly deteriorated, camp leader Khamees Abdallah Zambour told Elyosaa Ahmed of El Sudani newspaper on Wednesday.

The severe shortage of food and medicines led to the spread of malnutrition and diseases, which caused the death of 80 children and elderly people in the past three months. They died due to starvation, he said.

Five more died in the camp yesterday due to starvation, two men and three women.

The vast majority, more than 17,000 camp residents, left for Chad in search of aid. There are still 12,564 displaced living in the camp in dire conditions.

Zambour also noted increases in people begging or eating the leftovers of restaurants in local markets and called on the government and civil society organisations to urgently intervene.

Hunger crisis

Earlier this month, international aid organisation Save the Children warned that the death of two children due to hunger-related causes signals a 'looming hunger crisis over Sudan'.

The deaths were called "an ominous sign of what is to come as 18 million people are expected to be pushed into extreme hunger by September".

Last week, The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that "a record 15 million people in Sudan - one-third of the population - are currently facing acute food insecurity," and that this number is due to worsen during the dry season that lasts until September.

By that month, up to 40% of Sudanese may slip into food insecurity, the WFP and UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned.