Mothers with their babies wait for assessment in an overcrowded MSF clinic in Zamzam camp. Sudan, 15 February 2024. (Photo: MSF).

A medical aid group said Sudan’s paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has blocked trucks of therapeutic food destined for Zamzam camp to treat malnourished children in the North Darfur region where a famine has been declared.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym as MSF, said it has enough therapeutic food to feed starving children for another two weeks in the famine-stricken camp.

However, MSF said it has been forced to reduce the number of children to receive food in the camp because the humanitarian aid has been blocked by the paramilitary group fighting the army.

“We have sadly had to cap the number of children who can receive this treatment, because the RSF have blocked our supply trucks,” the group said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Our 3 trucks bringing life-saving medical supplies – including therapeutic food – to Zamzam and El Fasher have been blocked in the town of Kabkabiya for over a month by the RSF.”

The charity called on the warring parties to allow humanitarian aid to move across borders into Sudan and across front lines, adding that deliberately obstructing or delaying humanitarian cargo is putting the lives of thousands of children at-risk.

Sudan has been gripped by vicious civil war fought between the junta under General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo since April 15, 2023.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and triggered one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory and the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.

In August 2, a global hunger monitor said in a report that Zamzam camp is officially facing famine condition after intense and widespread fighting between rival military factions in the region.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)’s Famine Monitoring Review Committee said around 320,000 people have fled fighting in El Fasher since May – and 200,000 of them are enduring famine in Zamzam, the largest camp in the war-torn country.

However, Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) has refuted claims of a famine at Zamzam, saying the report has “nothing to do with the truth.”

It stressed that talking about a famine in these camps is not consistent with the criteria and conditions necessary for declaring a famine.

In May, MSF said it was scaling-up response to a catastrophic malnutrition crisis in Zamzam camp amidst escalating violence in North Darfur. The medical charity called on the warring parties to ensure the protection of civilians, healthcare structures and staff.