Thousands of people are fleeing from Sudan to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan due to the conflict that broke out on the 15th between two military rivals, and which has already caused more than 420 deaths and 3,700 injuries, the UN reported.
“Movements of civilians have been reported in the states of Khartoum, North, Blue Nile, North Kordofan, North Darfur, West Darfur and South Darfur, and cross-border movements have been observed from Sudan to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan”, affirmed the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Sudan in its daily report released this morning.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), “at least 238 South Sudanese have returned from Sudan to South Sudan via Renk, although this number is expected to rise in the coming days. There are also unconfirmed reports of cross-border movements through the Northern State into Egypt.”
According to the UNHCR representative in Chad, Laura Lo Castro, between 10,000 and 20,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Chad since heavy fighting began last Saturday between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitaries who it has left Sudan suffering from one of its worst conflicts in recent years.
Chad already hosts more than 600,000 refugees within its borders, including nearly 400,000 from Sudan, according to the latest UNHCR data.
OCHA wanted to highlight that several humanitarian organizations have evacuated or relocated their staff to locations “where operations are not currently feasible, but efforts are underway to respond where and when possible.”
Sudan continues to suffer”a severe shortage” of food, water, medicine and fuel, and limited access to communications and electricity, while “the prices of basic necessities, as well as those of transport, when and where it is available, are rising sharply“, he pointed.
The OCHA added in its part that information is appearing of “sexual and gender violence”, which is why UN Women has asked “all parties to ensure that no woman or girl is affected by these crimes, and all actors to spare no effort to mitigate the increased risk”.
Sudan hosts 1.1 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations in Africa, with South Sudanese accounting for more than 70% (800,000) of the refugees in Sudan, followed by 126,000 Eritrean refugees (11%), according to UN data.
Sudan also has more than 3 million internally displaced people, the majority in the conflict-ridden region of Darfur, which has experienced an unstable security situation for almost two decades.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 420 people have been killed in Sudan and more than 3,700 injured since hostilities began in one of Africa’s largest countries.
The fighting that began on April 15 between the Sudanese Army and the FAR arose after weeks of tension over the reform of the security forces in the negotiations to form a new transitional government.
Both forces were the architects of the joint coup that overthrew the transitional government of Sudan in October 2021.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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