The Darfur Victims Advocacy Organization and the Hope and Refuge for Refugees Organization on Monday issued an urgent appeal to international and regional organizations, United Nations agencies, and humanitarian organizations, calling for immediate intervention to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to hundreds of displaced families in the Ushr area, south of Al Malha in North Darfur State, following a devastating fire that destroyed the area’s main market.
A massive fire swept through the market, completely destroying it and burning down approximately 100 shops. The blaze caused extensive losses of goods and property and threatened the livelihoods of hundreds of families who depended on the market to meet their daily needs. Initial estimates put the financial losses at tens of billions of Sudanese pounds.
Jamal Hussein, a volunteer working in displacement camps in North Darfur, told Mashawir that the disaster occurred at a time when displaced people were already facing extremely difficult humanitarian and economic conditions, marked by severe shortages and scarcity of food supplies.
He warned that the continued lack of a humanitarian response could further deepen the crisis and expand the suffering.
The two organizations also called on philanthropists and charitable donors to stand with those affected and provide them with urgently needed support.
Meanwhile, community activist Adel Al-Zubair told Mashawir that the scale of the losses exceeds the capacity of the local community and requires a swift humanitarian response.
He stressed that immediate intervention is now an urgent humanitarian necessity, not only to provide food and essential relief supplies, but also to support affected families in recovering from the disaster and to help prevent the humanitarian situation in the area from deteriorating further.
