With aid deliveries blocked, volunteer groups are a critical lifeline, relying on diaspora donations to buy medicine and supplies that only come through by merchants paying bribes to RSF soldiers, to let products in [GETTY]
As fighting intensifies in Sudan’s el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, healthcare volunteer and social activist Noon al-Barmaki is among those risking everything to help civilians trapped in the conflict.
The medical sector is struggling to survive a conflict where hospitals and their staff by all accounts are intentionally targeted, and Barmaki feels the little she can offer her people, the wounded and displaced, can come a long way amidst the devastation.
Noon, who lived in the al-Radif neighbourhood, lost 15 family members when shelling by the UAE-backed Rapid Support Force (RSF) struck her home along with a siege the military group imposed on the region on May 10.
Fleeing the bombing, she fled to an open livestock market in central el-Fasher along with other residents, and there, they slept in the open for two days, hoping to retrieve their identification documents before it was too late.
They’re among the 12.4 million people displaced by fighting in Sudan, which created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises since its eruption in April 2023.
The bloody rivalry between the RSF and the Sudanese national army (SAF) has divided the country, killed at least 20,000 people, and wiped out vital infrastructure.
As the SAF gains ground in various parts of the country, RSF’s attacks are growing more vicious on el-Fasher, the army’s only stronghold in the region of Darfur.
Noon, keen to continue her support to the health sector even amidst displacement, started an initiative in April 2023, shortly after the war broke out harnessing social media to collect donations, raising thousands of dollars that have secured medicine, medical kits and food for medical staff in hospitals, makeshift clinics and displacement camps.
Even when her family managed to escape eastward to the town of al-Kuma, Noon made the difficult decision to stay behind, determined to continue her work supporting civilians caught in the violence.
“Enough with the death, destruction, and displacement of civilians!” she pleaded to Sudan’s warring generals while talking to The New Arab. “We need peace and security to live in our homes.”
Targeting the health system
But peace is an increasingly distant dream. The targeting of civilians and civic facilities have spiked in recent weeks, after the RSF ultimatum to the SNA to pull out from el-Fasher.
Days later, on January 24, the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital—the only functional medical facility in the besieged city—was bombed, killing 70 people, mostly patients and their families, and wounding 19 others.
Multiple other hospitals have been struck since, in el-Fasher and beyond. While fingers are pointed at the RSF, the paramilitary group denies the accusations.
Dr. Mudathir Ibrahim Suleiman, a staff member at el-Fasher’s Saudi hospital, said the facility had “ endured near-daily shelling throughout January, leaving scores dead and many more wounded.” Speaking by phone, he said the medical staff are “the last glimmer of hope in the city, treating patients under constant threat of attack.”
But even this last bastion of care is under siege. On January 28, RSF fighters assassinated laboratory technician Ayat al-Fadil inside her home, sending shockwaves through the city’s already struggling medical community.
“Medical workers have become targets,” says hospital volunteer Ahmed Ardeeb. “Doctors and nurses are holding the healthcare system together with their bare hands.”
According to interviews with multiple sources, healthcare workers are improvising to continue providing their much-needed services amidst the continuous shelling, the severe shortage of supplies, and also staff.
The deteriorating security situation, especially since movement within the city is terribly constrained by RSF militants, has driven many medics to flee el-Fasher, according to sources.
Surgeries without proper kits have become the norm, and corpses are often left on the floor of corridors, amidst lack of room in morgues.
In a statement on February 4, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami held both warring parties responsible for the “ruthless assault on human life”, describing the continued indiscriminate attacks on homes, markets and displacement camps as “deeply alarming”.
“The use of starvation as a weapon of war against innocent people in el-Fasher, North Darfur, is appalling,” said Clementine in the statement. “The laws of war are clear – all sides to the conflict have a legal and moral obligation to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Mohammed Suleiman Jibril, a member of a grassroot committee providing health support, holds the RSF responsible for the “systematic targeting of hospitals”, which he says has completely dismantled North Darfur’s healthcare infrastructure. “This is a war crime,” he asserted.
Darfur’s Minister of Health, Babikir Hamdin, insists the RSF is intentionally violating international laws by bombing hospitals. “The repeated destruction of medical facilities, especially the Saudi Hospital, proves this isn’t collateral damage—it’s deliberate,” he says.
A tragic humanitarian situation
With aid deliveries blocked, volunteer groups are a critical lifeline, relying on diaspora donations to buy medicine and supplies that only come through by merchants paying bribes to RSF soldiers, to let products in.
Despite witnessing relentless airstrikes, corpses strewn across streets, and the agonized cries of the wounded, Noon refuses to abandon her humanitarian work.
She was eventually displaced to Zamzam Camp, 17km south of el-Fasher, where over 300,000 displaced people now struggle for survival.
“We’re doing what we can but the need is massive,” Noon tells TNA, adding that she and her team of volunteers were repeatedly pursued by the RSF, forcing them to flee.
Through her “Youth Call” initiative, a volunteer-driven effort, she uses social media to raise funds for medical bills, medicine, and food for those in need.
By being based in Zamzam Camp, she sees first-hand the newly displaced families arriving daily after each wave of violence.
“People are crammed together in impossible conditions. The shelling hasn’t stopped, and the RSF is attacking villages west of el-Fasher. Every time there’s a strike, people run into the open, desperate for any form of shelter,” said Noon, speaking of terrified adults and children, malnutritioned infants, and an overall dire humanitarian situation.
“This war must stop. We, as volunteers, are powering through, but the situation in the camp, and beyond, is beyond catastrophic,” Noon says, soberly.
This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
