From El-Fasher to Tawila: How SAPA is Saving Lives in North Darfur’s Deepening Crisis

In North Darfur’s contested landscape, the town of Tawila has emerged as a life raft for thousands of civilians forced from El-Fasher. The collapse of services, the intensification of violence, and the mass movement of people are now combining into one of the largest internal displacement emergencies in Sudan. Between October 18 to 27 alone, some 831 families (3,038 individuals) fled El-Fasher and arrived in Tawila, already depleted of basics such as food, water, and shelter. According to one assessment, Tawila’s IDP population grew from ~238,000 in March 2025 to ~576,000 by September.

According to Al Jazeera (Oct 28, 2025), the Sudanese Armed Forces announced a full withdrawal from El-Fasher, warning of “catastrophic humanitarian consequences” as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) moved to seize the city.

Reason Behind Migration to Tawila

Witnesses told BBC News (Oct 27 2025) that civilians trapped inside El-Fasher faced days of bombardment and street-to-street fighting before attempting to flee. Homes, hospitals, and markets were destroyed, leaving families with no access to food, medicine, or clean water.

As the siege tightened, civilians began a dangerous journey westward. An Al Jazeera investigation (Oct 27, 2025) documented that many were “forced to pay ransom or risk their lives on roads patrolled by armed groups,” describing the escape route as “a corridor of violence and extortion”.

Tawila sits approximately 60 km from El Fasher and has become the default arrival point for people escaping the siege, camp attacks, and displacement in Darfur. The town has been overwhelmed by the influx of people arriving with nothing but their lives. Numerous reports indicate that newly-arrived families are living without safe water, sanitation, or health services.
With the rainy season looming, disease risk rising (including cholera), and humanitarian access constrained, the moment is critical.

>> Related Post: Child Mortality Rate in Sudan: Causes and Effects in 2026

The Humanitarian Needs & Gaps in Sudan

Tawila is now overwhelmed by thousands of displaced families fleeing El-Fasher. Every sector of survival, including health, food, and water, is under extreme strain, and the humanitarian needs are escalating daily.

Medical Needs

Most arrivals reach Tawila after walking for days without food or rest. Many are injured, dehydrated, and severely ill. With most hospitals in El-Fasher closed or destroyed, Tawila’s few clinics, including SAPA-supported facilities in Dali and Dabba Naira, are now the only lifeline. SAPA’s doctors provide trauma care, infection control, and emergency treatment despite shortages of medicine and staff.

Nutrition Crisis

Families arrived empty-handed and hungry. Assessments show alarming rates of child malnutrition, with mothers skipping meals to feed their children. SAPA’s teams are providing therapeutic feeding, hot meals, and nutrition support for children and lactating women to prevent further loss of life.

WASH & Disease Risk

Access to clean water and sanitation remains dangerously limited. Many families rely on unsafe wells or contaminated rainwater, heightening the risk of cholera and diarrheal diseases. SAPA’s WASH efforts focus on chlorinating water points, distributing hygiene kits, and raising disease-prevention awareness, but resources are far from enough.

Shelter & Protection

Families live in makeshift shelters with no protection from the heat or rain. Overcrowding has increased the risks of disease, malnutrition, and gender-based violence. SAPA is coordinating protection referrals and advocating for safe humanitarian corridors to reach those most at risk.

SAPA’s Response in Tawila

SAPA is one of the few medical-humanitarian actors on the ground in Tawila, and the following outlines how we’re stepping in:

Medical Aid

• Emergency treatment and triage for newly arrived families at the entry-point to Tawila (e.g., at the “Al-Omda” area).
• Trauma care and infection control in clinics such as Dali and Dabba Naira, now stocked with essential medicines.
• Planning to deploy mobile clinics at the arrival/triage point to ensure urgent care from arrival.
  
  

Nutrition & Food Support

• Hot meals being served to newly-arrived IDPs at Tawila’s entry point.
• Therapeutic feeding programmes for children and lactating mothers experiencing malnutrition.
• Monitoring of the nutritional status of children under 5 and mothers.
  
  

WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene)

• Improving access to safe water: cleaning, chlorination, repair of water points, new provision of safe drinking water.
• Sanitation: distributing latrines, hygiene-kits, and sanitation facilities to prevent disease outbreaks.
• Disease-prevention: cholera awareness, decontamination, hygiene education in the camps.
  
  

Coordination & Protection

• Rapid humanitarian needs assessments for new-arrival families to identify gaps (e.g., who is most vulnerable).
• Advocacy for humanitarian corridors, safe access, and ceasefire advocacy so aid can reach people.
• Protection referral: identifying children, women, and persons with disabilities who need protection services, psychosocial support.
  
  

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Why Your Help Matters Now in Sudan

• The “window of saving lives” is closing fast. Delays in scaling aid or obstruction of access will lead to preventable deaths from disease, hunger and exposure. 
• Every arrival adds pressure: more families are walking into Tawila after days without food or water, arriving sick, exhausted and malnourished.
• SAPA’s presence means we have the infrastructure and staff on the ground, so funds go directly to life-saving interventions (medical, nutrition, WASH) for over 2,000 displaced individuals already reached.
• The crisis extends beyond survival: rebuilding hope, restoring dignity, and providing children a chance to heal rather than just endure.

Join SAPA’s emergency appeal to keep clinics running, feed hungry families, and provide clean water to those who’ve lost everything.

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