Water runs short at Kosti displacement camp as fuel dries up
Thousands of displaced families at the Goz Al-Salam camp are going without steady drinking water as power and diesel supplies falter.
Drinking water has run short at the Goz Al-Salam Displacement Camp in Kosti, White Nile State, where power cuts and diesel shortages have left water supplies irregular for thousands of displaced families. The camp accommodates more than 5,000 families, most of whom fled conflict in Kordofan and Darfur, and many depend on water tankers for their daily needs.
Khalid Idris, the camp's chairman, said that deliveries have become increasingly irregular because of the fuel shortages. He pleaded with the authorities to allocate diesel on a regular basis and to add the camp's drinking water needs to the state's emergency response plan. The area's petroleum director has approved a diesel allocation, but Idris said the amount falls short of the camp's daily needs.
The electricity shortage follows the destruction of the Um Dabaker Power Station, which supplies power to Kosti. Jamila Mustafa, a camp resident with diabetes and severe kidney pain, said the water shortage weighs most heavily on schoolchildren and people with chronic illnesses, and that clinics in the market lack the medicines she needs.
Why it mattersSchoolchildren and people with chronic illnesses bear the heaviest load, with water costs rising as tanker deliveries grow erratic.