Sudan's Tawila: How 3,000 Tents Can Shelter 660,000 Displaced People

In Dabanayla camp in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, blue new tents stand in neat rows. Erected by the International Organization for Migration with the support of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, these tents were originally expected to provide basic shelter for displaced people. However, according to Al Jazeera reports, these 3,000 tents face more than 665,000 displaced people—a population that swelled from 238,000 to more than 650,000 within a matter of months.

"We can see the new tents from far away, but they are far from enough. We are dropping like flies, dying of hunger and disease. Our children are getting sick before our eyes, and we don't even have medicine," a displaced woman named Fatima Ibrahim told Al Jazeera. She and her family escaped from Fasher, hoping to find safety in Tawila, only to face the successive assaults of wind, rain, hunger, and disease.

The tents were set up before the rainy season arrived, while camp fires have been breaking out with increasing frequency at the same time. Displaced people have long sheltered under dilapidated coverings, unable to withstand wind and rain. According to International Organization for Migration data, more than 70 percent of families in Tawila are unable to access medical services, roughly half are unable to obtain treatment, and children under five and pregnant women are the most severely affected. Diseases such as cholera are spreading; shortages of clean drinking water have led to watery diarrhea and skin infections; the camp is severely overcrowded; and basic sanitation facilities are lacking.

"These new tents don't even cover one-tenth of the camp's needs," Ahmed Musa, a displaced person from Fasher sheltering in Dabanayla camp, told Al Jazeera. People are standing in the open rain, he said, and children are not receiving the care they deserve.

Humanitarian organizations themselves have difficulty reaching those affected. According to Al Jazeera reports, beyond harsh geographical conditions, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which are fighting against government forces, have set up numerous checkpoints in the area and control key routes. Local activists say aid trucks are frequently looted and extorted, the cost of relief is inflated, and the time for supplies to reach those affected is severely delayed. Many displaced people are forced to walk long distances to collect limited food rations, while others go weeks without receiving any aid at all.

The tent request was made by the Darfur regional government to donors. Al Jazeera's Arabic channel reported that Darfur's Minister of Social Welfare and Humanitarian Affairs Coordination, Abdelbagi Mohammed Hamid, said the regional government had raised the tent request with donors including the Turkish ambassador. Turkey accordingly allocated 30,000 tents through the International Organization for Migration, distributed to Darfur and Kordofan, of which 3,000 have been erected in the Dabanayla camp in Tawila, with another 2,450 sent to Salam, Unity, and Palm camps in South and East Darfur. The minister also said that humanitarian needs in the Maleha area were most urgent, followed by the Tina, Karnoi, and Umbaru areas, and that opening the Tina transit point was essential for delivering aid to these isolated regions.

Providing tents alone, however, is not enough to address the crisis. The minister warned that the shadow of famine could be more devastating than the war itself, and that humanitarian organizations still have difficulty reaching many affected areas. Darfur's regional Minister of Agriculture, Sadiq Barango, told Al Jazeera that the war has forced farmers to abandon their land, and armed groups have attacked and destroyed orchards and cash crop plantations. "This is an ominous sign that catastrophe is approaching," he said, calling for urgent humanitarian intervention.

"Tawila is not just a number," Adam Rijal, spokesperson for a displaced persons and refugees coordination organization, told Al Jazeera. Needs exceed capacity by dozens of times, he said, and children and the elderly are dying one after another from hunger, disease, and the absence of basic services.

According to Al Jazeera citing International Organization for Migration data, between March and September 2025, the number of displaced people in Tawila grew from 238,000 to more than 652,000. As Sudan's war continues, famine approaches, and the rainy season sets in, 3,000 tents can cover only a tiny fraction of the population. The gap between the speed of the aid system's response and the speed at which the affected population is swelling continues to widen in the mud of the Dabanayla camp.