Project reports
The Cap Anamur project reports describe the work of our teams on site, provide insights and depict current developments in the aid project.
Once the main area of conflict, the Nuba Mountains have now become a safe haven
Until recently, the Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan have been one of the most at-risk regions in the country. In a civil war that has been going on for decades, the armed group SPLM-N based there used to be under heavy bombardment by the Sudanese military. The militia has not yet been drawn into the current power struggles between the SAF (government army) and the RSF, which have broken out since April 2023. As a result, the Nuba region is currently one of the safest in the country, apart from a few armed clashes on the outskirts. As a result, more than 700,000 people have fled here from the rest of the country.
Despite finding a safe haven, the displaced people suffer from hunger
Due to the sharp increase in the population to an estimated 2.2 million people who now live and have found refuge in the region, supplies have been running dreadfully low for months. All official humanitarian access and trade routes to the Nuba Mountains have been cut off. Food has not been able to be delivered for months. In addition, the fertile region suffered from a poor rain season last year, which led to massive crop losses. A plague of locusts has also reduced the already low yield even further. With resources becoming so scarce, people have been unable to feed themselves for months and a disastrous famine is looming.
“A large number of people are at acute risk of starvation”
Cap Anamur Managing Director Bernd Göken reported in an interview with Deutschlandfunk in May that around 1 million people in the Nuba Mountains were acutely threatened by food insecurity at that time. In June, Cap Anamur was able to provide a large delivery of relief supplies for the hospital in the Nuba Mountains to ensure the operation of the health facility for the next 10 months. In this way, we can at least maintain medical care for the local populace. However, there is a lack of additional funds to bring urgently needed food to the region. The supply of food is currently the most urgent challenge, especially for the large number of children who are acutely suffering from hunger. We can see this in the steadily rising numbers of malnourished children being admitted to our hospital and the resulting increase of deaths.
The Nuba Mountains are currently one of the few places in Sudan where humanitarian aid can be reliably provided.
Humanitarian aid on a broad, international level is now urgently needed to help the people threatened by famine. The access routes to the Nuba Mountains must be opened for extensive supply shipments. The region that is currently not the scene of active fighting must be strengthened so that the refugees can be adequately provided for. After all, IDPs can currently safely reach and be reached in the Nuba Mountains.