Millions of Sudanese now facing extreme hunger after four months of civil war
Dire predictions about millions going hungry in Sudan have tragically been realised. Four months after a bloody and brutal civil war began an estimated 13 per cent of the country is now facing emergency levels of hunger. It's one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. Desperate refugees are now fleeing into neighbouring countries but are finding little respite or relief.
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00:00 Just a few months ago, this was an empty patch of land.
00:10 Now simple shelters stretch toward the horizon.
00:14 Mama Tu Hadidja arrived here from Sudan.
00:18 She escaped on foot after her husband was killed.
00:26 They were shooting rockets and shelling.
00:28 They killed people before our eyes and they launched a missile that destroyed our house.
00:34 Hadidja is eight months pregnant, her children haven't eaten in days.
00:43 We don't have any bedding, we don't have blankets and we don't have anything to eat.
00:52 Severe malnutrition is rife and children are dying.
00:57 Rations are distributed once a month, but many here won't receive enough for one meal
01:03 a day.
01:07 They gave us some millet and some beans, just a few kilograms.
01:11 We finished them and we haven't received anything else.
01:15 More than 80% of the people who live in this camp are women and children, the men in their
01:20 lives either killed, kidnapped or still missing.
01:25 In fact some of these children have lost both of their parents so they're living here as
01:29 orphans by themselves in these little shacks and they've got relative physical safety but
01:35 a dangerously uncertain future.
01:39 Refugees here face both mental and physical scars of conflict.
01:46 19-year-old Abdu is recovering at this field hospital after being hit by rocket shrapnel.
01:55 They amputated my two legs.
01:57 This one was too badly injured down the leg and they had to amputate and the second one,
02:02 my toes were bad.
02:04 Disease like cholera is also spreading.
02:07 There are no toilets or showers.
02:11 Even getting water to drink is a daily struggle.
02:16 People line up before dawn with whatever they can find in the hope of collecting some of
02:21 the precious liquid but many will miss out.
02:28 Still thousands of refugees arrive at the border crossing point every day.
02:35 What you see is what I could grab from the bush.
02:38 All I've managed to take is the kids.
02:43 As hard as life will be here, they have no other choice.
02:49 Alison Horne, ABC News in Ardray, Chad.
02:53 I'm going to die.
02:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]