Hunger deepens in besieged Sudanese city of Al Fasher

The worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan's besieged city of Al Fasher has forced thousands, including children, to eat animal feed to survive.

The North Darfur capital, the largest remaining frontline in fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has been under siege for over a year.

Due to a lack of fuel, volunteers have had to rely on donkeys to deliver what little aid they can acquire.

"We are hungry. Our children are naked. We have nothing to eat but animal feed. There is no water, we have nothing," said displaced mother, Fatma Yaqoub.

One advocacy group says that even the animal feed or ambaz, which is made out of peanut shells, is starting to run out.

As the RSF tries to take the city, which would give it control over most of Darfur, they have been blocking food supplies and attacking aid convoys headed there.

Mathilde Simon, project coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, says a United Nations convoy of 15 trucks was attacked when trying to reach Al Fasher in June.

"There were five people, five aid workers that were killed, at this moment. And since then, no more convoy has been able to reach the city,” she said.

As Al Fasher comes under constant artillery and drone attacks by the paramilitary group, markets lie almost deserted and what little food can be found is unaffordable.

Meanwhile, people are dying daily as the humanitarian crisis deepens.

Sudan was plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and its rival, the RSF, escalated to full-scale war in the capital Khartoum.

The fighting spread across the country, resulting in the death of over 20,000 people, displacing nearly 13 million others, and pushing many to the brink of famine.