RELENTLESS violence has devastated Sudan and large-scale fighting has escalated in and around the only capital in the western Darfur region not held by paramilitary forces, the United Nations top humanitarian official has warned.

Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the UN security council on Wednesday that famine has already struck Zamzam camp, about 10 miles from North Darfur’s embattled capital of El Fasher.

She said a large-scale humanitarian operation is “a matter of life and death.”

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023 when tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions.

The UN says that more than 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.

Ms Msuya urged the council to demand that the warring government and Rapid Support Force refrain from targeting civilians, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, and allow unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid through all border crossings and across conflict lines.

She also called on the UN’s 193 member states to press the parties “to agree to a humanitarian pause to save lives, give civilians respite and allow us to deliver assistance.”

Ms Msuya said that “the world should not abide in El Fasher the atrocities we witnessed in West Darfur.”

In June, the security council adopted a resolution calling for “an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around El Fasher.”

Ms Msuya said that sides ignored the call, and fighting escalated in the past week with “constant and heavy” shelling and bombing.

She stressed that to address “the atrocious humanitarian situation,” the two keys are a de-escalation in fighting and a willingness by both sides to facilitate access to those in need.