Fighting in Sudan has displaced more than 1.3m people, says UN
24 May 2023, 20:34
Violence erupted in April after months of escalating tensions between rival generals Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The fighting between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday.
The International Organisation for Migration said the clashes have forced more than one million people to leave their homes to safer areas inside Sudan.
About 320,000 others have fled to the neighbouring countries of Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.
The fighting erupted on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the country’s fragile transition to democracy, which was disrupted by a military coup led by the two generals in October 2021.
The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, which mainly tracks civilian casualties.
It has also pushed the East African country to near collapse, with urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and its neighbouring city of Omdurman turning into battlegrounds.
Egypt is hosting the largest number of those who fled, with at least 132,360 people, followed by Chad with 80,000 and South Sudan with more than 69,000, the agency added.
All but one of Sudan’s 18 provinces experienced displacement, with Khartoum at the top of the list with about 70% of the total number of displaced people, according to the IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix.
Sporadic fighting continued on Wednesday in several areas, despite a cease-fire reached this week. Residents reported hearing gunshots and explosions in central Khartoum as well as areas close to military facilities in Omdurman.
Both sides in the conflict Wednesday traded blame for violating the cease-fire.
The weeklong cease-fire, which was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, took effect on Monday night.
It was the latest international effort to push for humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-torn country.
A joint statement from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia late Tuesday warned that neither the Sudanese military nor the Rapid Support Forces observed the short-term cease-fire.
The fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Sudan. According to the UN, the number of people who need assistance this year has increased by 57% to reach 24.7 million people, more than half the country’s population.
The international body said it would need 2.6 billion US dollars (£2.1 billion) to provide them with much-needed humanitarian assistance.
