UNICEF: Over 1000 children killed, maimed in siege of Sudanese city
Port Sudan, Sudan (PANA) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday said that since the start of the siege of the city of Al Fashir in Sudan's North Darfur State in April 2024, more than 1,100 grave violations have been verified in this town alone, ‘’including the killing and maiming of over 1,000 children.’’
In a press release it issued on Wednesday, the UN children's agency complained that after 500 days under siege, the city had become an epicentre of child suffering, with malnutrition, disease, and violence claiming young lives daily.
UNICEF warned that at least 600,000 people - half of them children - have been displaced from Al Fashir and surrounding camps in recent months. Inside the city, an estimated 260,000 civilians, including 130,000 children, remain trapped in desperate conditions, cut off from aid for more than 16 months.
"We are witnessing a devastating tragedy – children in Al Fashir are starving while UNICEF’s lifesaving nutrition services are being blocked,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell was quoted as saying.
“Blocking humanitarian access is a grave violation of children's rights, and the lives of children are hanging in the balance. UNICEF continues to call for immediate and full access, including through expanded pauses in the fighting to allow us to reach all children in need. Children must be protected at all times, and they must have access to life-saving aid.”
UNICEF said that many of those killed were struck down in their homes, inside displacement camps, or in marketplaces. At least 23 children have been subjected to rape, gang rape, or sexual abuse, while others have been abducted, recruited, or used by armed groups. Due to limited access and verification challenges, the number of affected children is almost certainly significantly higher.
UNICEF reitrated its call on the Government of Sudan, and all other concerned parties, to help ensure sustained, unimpeded, and safe access to reach children wherever they are in Sudan, including, an immediate and sustained humanitarian pause in Al Fashir and across other conflict-affected areas.
It added that unimpeded humanitarian access for the delivery of therapeutic food, medicines, clean water, and other essentials was also essential to end the tragedy in the region.
It stressed the need for re-establishment and continuity of UN and partner operations in the areas most critically affected, protection of civilians, including children, and civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian law.
-0- PANA MO/MA 27Aug2025
