NRC’s Head of Operations in Sudan, Noah Taylor , shares what he saw, heard in Tawila

Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland , has shared on his verified X handle, @NRC_Egeland,  the experience of a top official of the NRC in Sudan.  Read text below:

Norwegian Refugee Council’s Head of Operations in Sudan, Noah Taylor, is just back from Tawila, and shares what he has seen and heard.

“When you crest the final hill into Tawila, you see what looks like a makeshift city rising out of the desert, a sprawling mass of shelters stretching toward the mountains. When I last came in May, Tawila’s camps hosted more than 200,000 people. Today, it has exploded into a mega-settlement of thousands and thousands more displaced people.

“Tens of thousands of people from Al Fasher and surrounding villages are still missing or unaccounted for after the latest violence. Families are trickling in day by day and are arriving not only exhausted and hungry; they are also searching for relatives they were separated from in the chaos. I spoke with a man who had walked for 18 days from Al Fasher on one crutch after being injured. Stories like his are common.

“Eighteen months of siege, brutal fighting, deliberate attacks on civilians, and the collapse of basic services in Al Fasher have pushed people to this point.

“Driving through the camp in Tawila, you still pass families trying to build something resembling a home with nothing more than blankets and sticks. We estimate at least 5,000 families are living in these makeshift shelters on the outskirts. Many arrived with only the clothes they were wearing.

“We are already seeing the risks of disease increasing. The available water, sanitation, and shelter services cannot keep up with the number of people here. Unless a major surge of aid arrives, conditions will deteriorate very quickly.

“NRC is supporting local responders, scaling up education and psychosocial support for children, helping manage the camp, and registering newly arrived families for cash assistance. More than 2,000 children are now attending NRC’s emergency learning and Better Learning Programme activities.

“But without safe access and a significant scale-up in funding, this camp will not withstand what is coming.”