The nearly three-month conflict between the army and paramilitaries in Sudan has forced more than three million people to flee their homes, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
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According to the online data portal of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, the number of people who have fled the fighting in Sudan abroad stands at nearly 724,000, while the number of those displaced within the country is 2 exceeds .4 million.
“We have surpassed the three million people displaced by the conflict in Sudan,” IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told AFP.
“It’s more than just a number. These are people who have been uprooted, who have fled for their lives, families who have been separated and children who can no longer go to school,” she added.
Egypt and Chad are the countries that have taken in the most people fleeing violence in Sudan.
The real number of people who have fled the country is certainly higher than the number reported by the IOM, as the number of arrivals in Egypt – nearly 256,000 – dates back to June 18.
Since April 15, the conflict has pitted the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane against the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) paramilitaries led by General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
The two generals, once allies, now vie for power and seem determined to seize it by force.
“We simply cannot turn away from Sudan, an immediate cessation of hostilities is urgently needed,” the IOM spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
And “we need sustained support from the international community to offer help and protection to those affected by the conflict,” she stressed.
The war plunged the country – one of the poorest in the world – into chaos. But as the humanitarian needs of the population and those fleeing the violence mount, humanitarian organizations have bemoaned the international community’s lack of generosity.
Also on Tuesday, Pierre Honnorat, head of the World Food Program (WFP) in Chad, told journalists in Geneva via video conference that the appeal for donations was clearly underfunded compared to the needs.
“People are running across the border hurt and scared, with their children in their arms and only with the clothes they are wearing. They need security and humanitarian aid,” he said.