At least 60 infants, toddlers, and other children died over the past six weeks while trapped in harrowing conditions in an orphanage in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. According to a report by the news agency Associated Press on Wednesday (May 31), most of these children at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage died from lack of food and fever.
The deceased included babies as young as three months, as per the death certificates.
Videos taken by orphanage workers showed the bodies of children tightly wrapped in white sheets awaiting burial. In another video, around two dozen toddlers wearing diapers sat on the floor of a room, many of them wailing, as a woman carries two metal jugs of water.
‘A catastrophic situation’: Orphanage worker
Speaking to the Associated Press, an orphanage workers that the toddlers were moved to a large room after nearby shelling blanketed another part of the facility with heavy dust last week.
Afkar Omar Moustafa, a volunteer at the orphanage, said, “It is a catastrophic situation. This was something we expected from day one (of the fighting).” Other orphanage workers warned that more children could die and called for their speedy evacuation from Khartoum.
Citing data, the report said that on Monday, there were at least 341 children at the orphanage, including 165 infants between the ages of one and six months and 48 ranging from seven to 12 months. And the remaining children were between the ages of one and 13 years.
Following the beginning of the conflict, among those at the orphanage were two dozen children who had been sent back from Khartoum hospitals. Heda Abdalla, who joined the orphanage as a child and is now a nurse there, said these hospitals had to close because of a lack of power or nearby shelling.
Khartoum: 19 killed, 106 injured in shelling at market
Nineteen people were killed and 106 others were injured in shelling at a market in a poor area south of Khartoum, according to a report by The Guardian early Thursday. Residents said that six tank shells were fired from al-Shajara and targeted the neighbourhood of Mayo.
In a statement, the Sudanese Doctors Trade Union said, “The cases have been increasing, the medical staff are under pressure to deal with so many cases with limited staff, we call all doctors and medical cadres who are nearby to come to the hospital so they can help as much as they can.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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