ALL ROADS around Sudan’s famine-stricken Zamzam camp in North Darfur are blocked and the security situation has become “unbearable,” an international aid worker said on Tuesday.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has suspended its activities in the camp of a half-million people because of safety concerns caused by fighting between the Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“There have been no more MSF activities for a couple of days now in Zamzam because the security was unbearable for our team,” said Marion Ramstein, MSF’s project co-ordinator for North Darfur.

That leaves few organisations on the ground to help in the remote area, Ms Ramstein said, calling it “a heartbreaking decision. We know that we left the population with no other support.”

Sudan plunged into civil war in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the military and the RSF. The conflict has killed at least 20,000 people, forced more than 14 million from their homes and created famine in some areas, including Zamzam. 

A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an international collection of experts tracking hunger, found last year that the camp and some other parts of North Darfur are experiencing “the worst form of hunger” known as IPC Phase 5.