More than 11 million displaced, overcrowding and famine: "They arrive in trauma"
More than 15,000 families have arrived in El-Obeid since mid-July. Over 200,000 people arrived in the city in the first half of the year, with the majority being women and children.
The humanitarian crisis in the city of El-Obeid in Sudan and in the two displacement camps on its outskirts is worsening. Every day, civilians fleeing the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia arrive in the city, traveling on foot and with almost nothing.
According to the UN, more than 15,000 families have arrived in the area since mid-July. This is in addition to more than 200,000 people who arrived during the first half of the year, according to government data cited by the organization Save the Children.
"The situation is very difficult and deteriorating, because El-Obeid receives displaced people every day. The city is shockingly overcrowded," said Maryam, a humanitarian volunteer whose identity was changed for security reasons. According to her, the newcomers arrive carrying almost nothing. "They also suffer from a lack of food and they definitely arrive in trauma."
El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, was home to about half a million people before the war broke out more than three years ago.
Many of the new displaced people have been absorbed into the city, but tens of thousands live in two main tent camps. An analysis of satellite data by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab found that 800 new tents were set up in one of the camps between August 4 and August 25.
Paul Byers, director of the Danish Refugee Council in Sudan, visited El-Obeid last week. "During my visit, I saw 450 people who had arrived from the surrounding villages that same morning," he said.
According to him, the authorities' estimates are correct, and about 85% of those entering the city are women and children. "Most of the men stay behind, because this is the only period for agriculture."
The civil war in Sudan broke out in the capital Khartoum on April 15, 2023, after a power struggle between the army and the RSF deteriorated into a violent conflict. Since then, about 11.3 million people have been displaced from their homes - more than a fifth of the country's population. Parts of Sudan, including El-Obeid and the surrounding areas, are in a state of famine.
Estimates of the death toll in the war range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. In October 2025, after an 18-month siege, the RSF took control of El-Fasher in the Darfur region. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people were massacred in the city within two days.
In June, there was an increase in RSF drone attacks against El-Obeid and the surrounding areas, and the UN warned that the city could experience a repeat of the events in El-Fasher.
The number of attacks has since decreased, and the army regained control at the end of July of a main road leading north to Khartoum, which at least partially reduced the threat of the city being besieged. However, drones are still killing and wounding civilians, while fighting continues in the surrounding districts, pushing more residents into the city.
Maryam said that recently volunteers in El-Obeid have noticed more "double-tap" drone attacks - where two drones arrive one after the other and hit not only civilians, but also rescuers and emergency services. "It's hard, so hard, to live with this, to hear the sound of the impact," she said.
According to Nuhad Al-Tayeb, who monitors the war in Sudan for the Acled group, drones have become a central component of the civil war. They are responsible for half of all violent incidents, compared to 4% at the beginning of the war.
According to Acled data, since the beginning of the year, 322 violent incidents affecting civilians have been recorded in the greater Kordofan region, compared to 388 incidents in all of 2025. The RSF was responsible for half of them, but the Sudanese Armed Forces also killed and wounded civilians.
