Cartoon by Rahma

Water crisis batters war-torn Sudan as temperatures soar

The New Arab: "Since the war began, two of my children have walked 14 kilometres (nine miles) daily to get water for the family," says Issa, a father of seven from North Darfur state.

In the blistering sun, as temperatures climb past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), Issa's family — along with 65,000 other residents of the Sortoni displacement camp — suffer the weight of the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

When the first shots rang out more than a year ago, most foreign aid groups — including the one operating Sortoni's local water station — could no longer operate. Residents were left to fend for themselves.

The country at large, despite its many water sources including the mighty Nile River, is no stranger to water scarcity.

Even before the war, a quarter of the population had to walk more than 50 minutes to fetch water, according to the United Nations.

Now, from the western deserts of Darfur, through the fertile Nile Valley and to the Red Sea coast, a water crisis has hit 48 million war-weary Sudanese who are already facing "the largest humanitarian crisis on the face of the planet."

Around 110 kilometres east of Sortoni, deadly clashes in North Darfur's capital of El-Fasher, besieged by RSF, threaten water access for more than 800,000 civilians.

Just outside the city, fighting over the Golo water reservoir "risks cutting off safe and adequate water for about 270,000 people", the UN children's agency UNICEF has warned.

Access to water and other scarce resources has long been a source of conflict in Sudan.

"The water is there, but it's more than 60 metres (66 yards) deep, deeper than a hand pump can go," according to a European diplomat with years of experience in Sudan's water sector.

"If the RSF doesn't allow fuel to go in, the water stations will stop working," he told AFP, requesting anonymity because the diplomat was not authorised to speak to the media.

"For a large part of the population, there will simply be no water."

Already in the nearby village of Shaqra, where 40,000 people have sought shelter, "people stand in lines 300 metres long to get drinking water," said Adam Rijal, spokesperson for the civilian-led General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur.

Sudan is hard-hit by climate change, and "you see it most clearly in the increase in temperature and rainfall intensity," the diplomat said.

This summer, the mercury is expected to continue rising until the rainy season hits in August, bringing torrential floods that kill dozens yearly.

The capital Khartoum sits at the legendary meeting point of the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers — yet its people are parched.

The Soba water station, which supplies water to much of the capital, "has been out of service since the war began," said a volunteer from the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of grassroots groups coordinating wartime aid.

People have since been buying untreated "water off of animal-drawn carts, which they can hardly afford and expose them to diseases," he told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Entire neighbourhoods of Khartoum North "have gone without drinking water for a year," another local volunteer said requesting to be identified only by his first name, Salah.

"People wanted to stay in their homes, even through the fighting, but they couldn't last without water," Salah said >>>