Sudan: The United Nations has stated that more than 1 million people have fled Sudan to neighbouring states as people inside the country suffer from food and healthcare shortages after four months of war.
Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the capital, Khartoum, leading to a protracted civil war and destabilising the region.
“Time is running out for farmers to plant the crops that will feed them and their neighbours.” Medical supplies are scarce. The situation is spiralling out of control,” UN agencies said in a joint statement.
According to the latest weekly figures published by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the war has caused 1,017,449 people to cross from Sudan into neighbouring countries, many already struggling with the impact of conflicts or economic crises, while those displaced within Sudan are estimated to number 3,433,025.
“The remains of many of those killed have not been collected, identified, or buried, but the UN estimates that more than 4,000 have been killed,” Ms. Elizabeth Throssell, spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, commented.
“Reports of sexual assaults have increased by 50 percent,” UN Population Fund official Ms. Laila Baker noted.
Recently, the army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan accused the RSF of aiming “to take the country back to an era before the modern state” and “committing every crime that can be imagined.” The RSF has accused the army of trying to seize full power under the direction of loyalists of Mr. Omar al-Bashir, the autocratic leader who was toppled during a popular uprising in 2019.
Attempts by Saudi Arabia and the United States to mediate a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict have stalled, and humanitarian agencies have struggled to provide relief due to issues like insecurity, theft, and administrative obstacles.