Kuwait city: Through its persistent humanitarian aid, Kuwait is seeking to alleviate the woes and anguish of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the town of Tawila in Sudan's western Darfur region. Hundreds of IDPs have flooded en masse to Tawila since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the city of Al-Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur state, last month, following an 18-month siege that cut residents off from essential supplies.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Tawila Town, located 60 km west of Al-Fasher, has received nearly 379,000 IDPs only since April 2025, increasing the total number of IDPs in the town to 700,000. With hundreds of families still arriving, Tawila faces severe shortages of water, food, and health services. In response to the crisis, Kuwait has been providing humanitarian assistance, including food and medicine.
The Kuwait Patients Helping Fund Society has intensified its efforts in Tawila, establishing field activities to address the urgent food and health needs. Executive Director Dr. Abdulmajeed Fadhlallah stated that the society's medical teams have implemented urgent interventions, such as field clinics for primary care, psychological support, health awareness, and early detection of chronic diseases, alongside distributing medical and preventive food supplies.
The society's initiatives also include measures to protect women and girls from violence and facilitating emergency cases' transfer to Tawila Hospital. The society has established a field medical station in Tawila since the RSF took control of Al-Fasher, with the town now home to 700,000 IDPs, 21 percent living in camps and 74 percent in makeshift settlements.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned of the dire conditions faced by families arriving in Tawila, highlighting the urgent need for shelter, food, clean water, and health services. UNICEF's Representative in Sudan, Sheldon Yett, described the children arriving in the camps as severely malnourished and traumatized by the violence witnessed.
UN relief chief Tom Fletcher noted that children make up more than 50 percent of those displaced by violence in Al-Fasher. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that over 990,000 people have fled violence in Al-Fasher and surrounding areas, with 98 percent of refugee families in Tawila lacking basic shelter.
The Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA) has raised concerns about the escalating number of refugees in Tawila. Project coordinator Ibrahim Yaqoub reported that over 80,000 people have arrived since April 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing areas for internally displaced persons globally. SAPA highlighted severe malnutrition among children and acute food and water shortages, urging international intervention to prevent the humanitarian situation from worsening.