Thousands flee Zamzam to an unknown fate in Tawila
4 May 2025
On her journey from Zamzam Camp, south of El Fasher, to Tawila Locality in North Darfur State, Hajar Mohammed and her children faced the spectre of death during a gruelling three-day journey on foot.
Once the largest internally displaced camp in Darfur, hosting nearly half a million people, it is now almost empty. After brutal ground and aerial attacks against the displaced people living in the camp, over 400,000 have fled the camp; the majority, an estimated 303,000 people, relocated to Tawila.
An estimated 180,000 people, the UN reports, are still trapped within Zamzam camp.
“It was a dark night, lit by drones and artillery and fires raging in the houses built of local materials. I barely made it out of the camp,” Hajar told Ayin from Tawila. Hajar had no idea where she was going when she and her children fled Zamzam; they simply walked behind thousands of others fleeing the camp while under heavy fire. They walked until their feet bled, surviving mostly on “ambaz”, the leftover peanut and sesame shells after their oil extraction. Hajar and her children nearly collapsed upon reaching Tawila, where volunteers came and rescued them.
Hajar’s story is reflective of thousands of other former Zamzam residents.
A dangerous journey
Displaced people in the Tawila locality are sleeping on the ground under the shade of trees. The small town is now overwhelmed with the displaced, where local volunteers attempt to make modest efforts to support the conflict-displaced. “My children do not sleep at night because of extreme hunger,” says Um-Kulthum*, another Tawila resident recently displaced from the El-Fasher area. While suffering, Um-Kulthum says the journey from El-Fasher to Tawila was worse. Um-Kulthum witnessed children and the elderly lying on the road from El Fasher to Tawila, unable to walk any further.
Ibrahim Abdullah actually buried the body of one elderly woman he found by the roadside as he left El Fasher for Tawila. He buried her using his bare hands. “Many have died along the road of hunger and thirst, especially children and the elderly,” he told Ayin. “This suffering must stop. The Sudanese people have had enough tragedies.”
To make matters worse, armed men routinely intercepted the displaced fleeing to Tawila, taking what little remained, Um-Kulthum said. “They stripped us of everything, even our clothes and shoes,” she said. The armed men also beat and captured young men who were walking near Um-Kulthum; she has no idea what happened to them. “We lost many lives along the way; for others, we do not know whether they are alive or dead.”
Many families have lost family members along the way from the El Fasher area to Tawila. This is the case for Youssef Ali Mohammed, a retired medical assistant, who cannot trace his sister or his wife’s sister. “My sister and mother-in-law were leading us, but we lost them on the road because of the intense crowding,” Ali told Ayin. “Thousands of people were walking.”
Tawila: peace but paucity
Tawila provides some security for the displaced under the protection of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdel-Wahid Mohammed (SLA-AW). But the armed group, a neutral force in the current war that has pledged to protect civilians, has limited resources, says Moujeeb al-Rahman, the head of the SLA’s civil authority. Volunteers that make up the Emergency Response Room (ERRs) in Tawila prepare ready-to-eat food for the new arrivals, local volunteers told Ayin, confessing these efforts cannot feed everyone.
“The situation in the Tawila area is dire after the recent arrival of thousands of displaced people, in addition to the displaced people who have been there since earlier on in the war, in 2023,” says Adam Rijal, spokesman for the Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees in Sudan. “The number has reached more than one million displaced people, in addition to the local population.”
A lack of drinking water, says recently displaced Bakhita Adam, is another critical challenge. Every day Bakhita stands in long queues at the water pump, hoping there is enough to collect a gallon of water. “We are suffering greatly with water because we lack containers for storing water and animals for transporting it from the well,” Bakhita said.
“The community and local authorities in Tawila, emergency rooms, and some humanitarian organisations are making significant efforts,” Rijal said. “But the humanitarian situation is beyond their capacity.” The need for international assistance is critical and viable, he added. “Unlike other areas where the warring parties prevent humanitarian access, there are routes to deliver aid in Tawila. If aid does not arrive soon, we expect people in this area to die of hunger and thirst.”
Tragedy on repeat
For the majority of the recent Tawila arrivals from Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, this is not their first time being displaced. This is the second time for Hajar Mohammed to face displacement, but this latest experience is even harsher than the first. Hajar’s house in Zamzam Camp was burnt to the ground; her husband was injured during one of the shelling attacks on the camp. Hajar’s frustration reflects the situation millions of Darfur citizens are facing. “How long will we remain displaced? Our entire lives? We are tired.”
