Cholera outbreak in Sudan: Detainees succumb to untreated cholera at Deqris prison in Nyala City, South Darfur.

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The African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) hereby conveys its profound concern regarding the health conditions of detainees at Deqris Prison in South Darfur State. Three detainees are suspected of having died from cholera, while symptoms appear in two others at the prison.  

The prison facility is located 12 kilometers from Nyala City, the capital of South Darfur State (now the capital of the Tasis Alliance for Sudan). Deqris Prison was converted into a detention center under the supervision of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) shortly after the paramilitary seized the city. It is reported that the prison is currently overcrowded with more than 2,000 detainees, mainly from Khartoum, Kordofan, and Darfur regions, living under dire conditions, including poor sanitation and limited access to food, clean water, and healthcare.  In these conditions, disease can run rampant, particularly cholera.

ACJPS was informed by a reliable source that cholera likely broke out in the prison on August 15, 2025, when a detainee showing cholera symptoms was transferred to Deqris Prison. On the morning of August 16, 2025, an unidentified male detainee was moved by RSF military police from the prison to Al-Yageen Medical Complex in Nyala; he unfortunately died the next day. A second patient, a roughly 63-year-old man with cholera symptoms, died on August 16. The third case, a 35-year-old man, died on August 21, 2025.

On August 22 and 23, 2025, two other detainees were transferred to the medical isolation center at Italian Hospital in the Alnahda neighborhood of Nyala.

 Other developments

It has been reported that at least 340 people from Aldeain, the capital of East Kordofan, also passed away after suffering from cholera symptoms.

Recommendations;

• We warmly urge international organizations like the WHO, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Borders to come together and swiftly provide emergency aid and cholera vaccines to those most in need.  We further urge organisations with mandates to visit and supervise prisons to intervene and visit prisons in Sudan.
• The conflicting parties agree to a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid access for civilians. We also call on the belligerents to halt arbitrary arrests and detention, as these actions violate protections under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Additionally, we urge the release of detainees who are not charged with valid legal charges. 
• We also urge the Sudanese authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the arbitrary arrests of civilians and hold those responsible accountable.

Background

In addition to the ongoing conflict, the people of Sudan are now confronting the worst cholera outbreak the country has seen in years. The Ministry of Health first declared the outbreak in August 2024. By August 11, 2025, there have been approximately 99,700 suspected cases and more than 2,470 deaths linked to the disease. In the Darfur region alone, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have treated over 2,300 patients recently, and they recorded 40 cholera-related deaths in the past week at facilities managed by the Ministry of Health.

Cholera is widely spreading across Darfur, impacting communities already facing water shortages that make it difficult to maintain basic hygiene, such as washing dishes and food. The United Nations reports that the situation is most critical in Tawila, North Darfur, where 380,000 people have fled from ongoing fighting around El Fasher.