Nairobi [Kenya], August 28: Children are threatened by acute malnutrition and violence in besieged El Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur region, which has been under fire for 500 days, UNICEF said on Wednesday.
Every day "malnutrition, disease, and violence" claim young lives, the UN organization said in a statement.
El Fasher has become an "epicentre of child suffering," it added.
Sudan has been engulfed in a bloody power struggle since April 2023.
El Fasher is the last major city in western Darfur still under government control. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which opposes the goverment, is accused of numerous human rights abuses, while the government army is blamed for bombing civilian residential areas.
Around 260,000 civilians remain trapped there, half of them children, according to UNICEF. Some 600,000 people have already fled from the town, which has been cut off from supply routes and aid deliveries for more than 16 months, UNICEF said.
Recently, at least 63 people - including children - died from the effects of malnutrition within a single week, the UN agency said, citing reports.
Since January, more than 10,000 children in El Fasher have been treated for acute malnutrition - nearly twice as many as last year.
Due to dwindling supplies, services have now had to be suspended.
About 6,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition can no longer be treated and are in life-threatening danger.
Since the beginning of the siege, more than 1,000 children have been killed or mutilated by bombings or other violence, UNICEF said.
Children are also falling victim to sexualized violence, the organization warned.
UNICEF is calling on the Sudanese government and other parties to the conflict to ensure permanent, unhindered and safe access to children across Sudan.
This includes an immediate and sustained humanitarian ceasefire in El Fasher and other conflict zones.
Source: Qatar Tribune
