Humanitarian conditions in the Sudanese city of El Obeid and two camps on its outskirts are dire and deteriorating, according to people on the ground, as civilians displaced by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia continue to pour in from the surrounding countryside.
The UN says more than ۱۵,۰۰۰ families have arrived since mid-July, joining more than ۲۰۰,۰۰۰ people who arrived in the first half of the year, according to government figures cited by Save the Children.
“The situation is very harsh and is deteriorating as El Obeid is receiving IDPs [internally displaced people] on a daily basis … The city is shockingly overcrowded,” said Maryam, a humanitarian volunteer whose name has been changed for her safety.
The new arrivals came on foot, carrying almost nothing, she said. “They also suffer from a shortage of food and they definitely arrive traumatised.”
The city, the capital of North Kordofan province, was home to around half a million people before the war broke out more than three years ago.
While many of the new arrivals have been absorbed into the city, tens of thousands are living in two main tented camps. According to analysis of satellite data by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, ۸۰۰ new tents appeared in one of the camps between ۴ and ۲۵ August.
“During my visit, I saw ۴۵۰ arrivals coming from the surrounding villages just that morning,” said Paul Byars, the Sudan country director for the Danish Refugee Council, who was in El Obeid last week. “The authorities’ estimates are correct, that ۸۵% of them are women and children. Most of the men are staying behind because this is the only time for farming.”
Civil war erupted in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, about ۲۵۰ miles (۴۰۰km) north-east of El Obeid, on ۱۵ April ۲۰۲۳, when a power struggle between the armed forces and RSF descended into open conflict.
Since then, about ۱۱.۳ million people have been displaced, more than a fifth of the population. Some parts of the country, including El Obeid and surrounding areas, are at risk of famine.
Estimates of the number of people killed in the war range from tens to hundreds of thousands. More than ۱۰,۰۰۰ people are thought to have been massacred by the RSF in El Fasher over two days when they seized the city in Sudan’s western Darfur region in October ۲۰۲۵ after an ۱۸-month siege.
A surge in RSF drone strikes on El Obeid and nearby areas in June led the UN to warn that the city could face a repeat of what happened in El Fasher.
The number of strikes has since fallen. The armed forces also recaptured a key road leading north to Khartoum in late July, which at least partly lifted the threat of besiegement. However, drones are still killing and injuring civilians, while violence rages in the surrounding districts, pushing people to the city.
Recently, volunteers in El Obeid had noticed more “double-tap” drone strikes, where a second drone follows the first, hitting rescuers at the scene, Maryam said. “It is hard, so hard, living with this, hearing the sound of a drone hitting somewhere,” she said. “It’s very disturbing.”
Sudan’s civil war has become dominated by drones, accounting for half of all violent incidents, up from ۴% at the start of the war, said Nohad Eltayeb, who monitors Sudan for Acled, a conflict tracking group.
Both sides used drones, but the RSF’s usage had become more volatile since the US war with Iran began to interrupt supply lines in February, she said. “They rely on fewer, very targeted strikes.”
So far this year, there have been ۳۲۲ incidents of violence affecting civilians in the wider Kordofan region, compared with ۳۸۸ for the whole of ۲۰۲۵, according to Acled data. While the RSF was responsible for half of those, the SAF has also killed and injured civilians. On ۱۰ August, armed forces and an allied militia killed five civilians and injured ۱۰ about ۶۰ miles north-east of El Obeid, according to Emergency Lawyers, a non-governmental group.
With the threats to delivery trucks, food prices have rocketed. In north Kordofan in July, according to World Food Programme data, a litre of groundnut oil cost ۱۷,۰۰۰ Sudanese pounds (£۲۱), up from ۱۳,۰۰۰ in June and ۷,۷۰۰ a year ago. The prices of wheat flour and goat and sheep meat have also more than doubled in the last year.
Meanwhile, El Obeid’s power and water infrastructure still has not fully recovered from RSF drone strikes in June.
“The main problem is the big [water] source that is in the north of the city has been severely damaged and it has not been repaired,” said Esperanza Santos, an emergency coordinator in Sudan for Médecins Sans Frontières. “The water pipes in the city have [also] been impacted. So mostly, both in the city – for example, in the hospital – and also in the IDP camps, they are relying on water trucking and it’s not enough.”
Conditions in the camps were poor too, Santos said. “In terms of sanitation, it’s very, very bad. It’s not enough. The ratio of latrines per person is impossible – there are more than ۱۰۰ people for a latrine. So basically there is open defecation.”
Maryam said she and her fellow local volunteers remained committed, despite the difficulties. “The situation is deteriorating, but we are trying to stay together, to stay strong in the face of the drone attacks and the influx of IDPs … We are living with this and we hope things will become better.”
