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In co-ordination with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Khartoum Cleaning Corp (KCC), the representation office of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in Sudan has launched an environmental sanitation campaign in the Khartoum East Locality, as part of a large-scale, three-month program that would encompass all localities across the state.Phase 1 of the campaign targets seven neighbourhoods of Khartoum East, covering an area of approximately 30 km2. Intensive cleaning and environmental sanitation activities are being carried out, including the cleaning of streets, markets, and residential areas; removal of waste piles and debris; garbage disposal; improvement of public landscape; and enhancement of hygiene and environmental sanitation.Approximately 330,000 displaced and poor people will benefit from these interventions/services, at a total cost of QR28mn.A Terms of Reference (ToR) document was signed by QRCS and KCC to outline the roles, responsibilities, and co-ordination/implementation mechanisms for both parties, ensuring effective field interventions.The launch ceremony was attended by Khartoum's Minister of Health Dr Mohamoud al-Badri, Secretary-General of the Higher Council for Environment Ghada Hussein al-Awad, Executive Director of Khartoum Locality Abdelmonim al-Bashir, Director of KCC Omar Othman Ali, and head and staff of QRCS's office in Sudan.The campaigns are part of QRCS's efforts to support local authorities in improving environment sanitation and public services, reducing environmental and health risks associated with waste accumulation, and strengthening partnership and coordination with government and specialised organisations.This is one of QRCS's Integrated Humanitarian Interventions project, which involves a whole set of multi-sector humanitarian projects to support affected and displaced across various Sudanese states. These projects cover the sectors of health, water and sanitation, emergency relief, and education support. 

Residents of the southern Sudanese city of El-Obeid have said they are living in fear as paramilitaries appear to prepare for an assault, with the army reporting shooting down a drone targeting the city on Saturday.The North Kordofan state capital, about 400km southwest of the national capital Khartoum, is a regional hub and a strategic prize for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with Sudan's army since April 2023.While the RSF announced Thursday it had accepted a truce proposal put forward by mediators, the UN subsequently said it saw "preparations for intensified hostilities", issuing a warning about the deteriorarting situation in the Kordofan region in particular."We are especially worried after what happened in El-Fasher," Soaad Ali, from El-Obeid's Karima neighbourhood, said referring to the RSF's capture of the last army stronghold in western Darfur after an 18-month siege.That takeover was followed by reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting, triggering fears the conflict could spread into oil-rich Kordofan.El-Obeid, which hosts an airport, sits on a key supply route linking Darfur and Khartoum.Last month, the RSF captured Bara, north of El-Obeid, forcing more than 36,000 people to flee that town and four others in North Kordofan in less than a week, according to the UN.The group said last week it had massed forces in Bara to retake El-Obeid, "advising civilians to steer clear of military targets"."We are living in fear," said a resident of El-Obeid's Qubba neighbourhood, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons."Officials try to reassure us, but... after what happened in Bara, our fears are growing."The fall of El-Fasher two weeks ago gave the RSF control of all five state capitals in the vast western region, in addition to parts of the south.The army controls most of Sudan's north, east and centre, including Khartoum.Since El-Fasher's fall, more than 80,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas, according to the UN.The General Coordination for Displaced People and Refugees in Darfur, an NGO, said that more than 16,000 people had arrived in Tawila and were in dire need of food, water and medical care.El-Fasher had a population of around 260,000 before the RSF takeover.Little is known about the fate of thousands still trapped in the city, which has been largely cut off from communications.Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Sudan, told AFP that many families arriving in Tawila came with "children who are not their own".The children, she said, "have lost their parents on the way, either because they've... disappeared in a chaos, or they've been detained, or they've been killed".Survivors said that women and men were separated on the way out of El-Fasher, and that hundreds of men were detained in nearby towns.Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Saturday visited displaced people from El-Fasher in Al-Dabba city, about 1,000km north.

Municipal workers react while operating a pump draining a flooded highway overpass in Sudan's capital Khartoum following heavy rain Wednesday.Flash floods have killed nine people in Sudan, a civil defence official said Wednesday, after heavy seasonal rains triggered flooding and flattened homes in the Nile Valley.The official said the deaths occurred when a torrential downpour struck the northern city of al-Dammer, the capital of River Nile State, on Tuesday, with the floodwaters surrounding five neighbourhoods and impeding access.