APPENDIX: What is the population of Zamzam IDP camp?
Although the consensus figure is 500,000 people, there are other estimates, even as we know that no demographic data has been collected for over a year, and the sheer size of the camp (and its continually expanding environs) makes an accurate census impossible.
MSF, which still maintains a presence in Zamzam, estimates the number to be 500,000 persons;
Save the Children, which has a long history of work in Darfur, recently estimated the figure to be nearly 1 million persons;
Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab puts the figure at 500,000 to over 1 million persons.
Gaffar’s own estimate, based on continuous and long-term communication with those living in Zamzam—including the counselors of Team Zamzam and important communal leaders (omdas, sheikhs)—is a population greater than 1 million persons.
AERIAL VIEWS OF ZAMZAM
