Deutsche Welle :
For the activists who have been running the communal kitchen in Sudan’s regional capital El Fasher for the past year, the United Nation’s latest warning of “catastrophic hunger” felt as if someone had finally found the right words for the brutality of the situation.
For months the activists have not been able to raise funds or obtain food. They were simply left to watch their stockpiles diminish.
“Eventually, on February 15, we ran out of food and have not been able to feed anyone in our communal kitchen since then,” one of the founders told DW. They asked that their name be withheld for fear of retribution; the region surrounding the city is currently the site of significant violent clashes.
The closure means that many Sudanese families in the area are left without even one meal a day, the activist told DW.
Since the beginning of Sudan’s conflict a year ago, communal kitchens and other nationwide community-led initiatives, which are also known as emergency response rooms, or ERRs, have been a key lifeline for the population.
According to a recent report by the United Nations, ERRs have reached more than four million civilians with rapid assistance of all kinds, including water supplies, food, cooked meals and medical help; they’ve helped repair damaged power lines and have shared safe evacuation routes.
“Some of the only humanitarian assistance has been provided by local responders like these emergency response rooms,” Michelle D’Arcy, Sudan country director of the humanitarian organization Norwegian People’s Aid, told DW.
“These volunteers are serving their community in the spirit of mutual aid and within Sudanese cultural traditions like ‘Nafeer,’ which is a call to come together and help your neighbours; yet, no matter how noble these efforts are, it is not enough to address the massive needs on the ground,” she said.
The brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, which are headed by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, headed by Burhan’s deputy, General Mohammed Dagalo, better known as Hemeti, escalated in April 2023 over the integration of the RSF into the country’s army.
