Sao Paulo
The civil war that is devastating Sudan reaches its 100th day this Monday (24). According to Unicef, the UN organization for children, 435 children were killed and 2,025 injured. According to the balance sheet, which is considered to be quite conservative, it was as if a child had been killed or injured every hour in the clashes.
The clashes, which broke out in the capital Khartoum on April 15, later spread to western Darfur, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Since then, at least 3,900 people have died and 3.3 million have had to leave their homes according to the UN, more than 700,000 have fled abroad.
One of the latest cases of civilian deaths was recorded on Saturday (22) when 16 people died after their homes in Darfur were hit by rockets, according to local lawyers’ union.
Also this month, a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 87 people allegedly killed by paramilitary forces in June was found in the region. Women and children were among the victims.
Unicef recorded 2,500 serious violations of children’s rights during this period. “Since these are merely figures shared with agency sources, the actual figure is likely to be much higher,” the agency said in a statement Monday.
“The magnitude of the impact this conflict has had on the children of Sudan over the past 100 days is almost unimaginable,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Aid. “Parents and grandparents who have lived through previous cycles of violence are now witnessing their children and grandchildren go through similar horrifying experiences. Every day children are killed, injured, kidnapped and see schools, hospitals and vital infrastructure across the country damaged, destroyed or looted.”
More than half of Sudan’s roughly 48 million people need humanitarian assistance to survive, in a context where NGOs face government blockades and a lack of international means to act. At the beginning of the conflict, the United Nations even temporarily suspended its operations in the African country after the death of five humanitarian workers.
“Sudan is on the brink of collapse and is being gripped by a series of crises that are unprecedented collectively,” the Norwegian Refugee Council said. “The first hundred days of the war brought terror and devastation, and the next hundred are sure to get worse. Violence continues, and the coming weeks could see devastating floods, displacement and epidemics.”
According to UNICEF, at least 690,000 children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition and 1.7 million babies under the age of one are at risk of missing important vaccinations as a result of looting of supplies and attacks on vital facilities.
Since April 15, there have been clashes between General Fatah alBurhan’s troops and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) paramilitaries led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemedti.
After overthrowing Omar al Bashir’s 30year dictatorship in 2019, the former allies launched a coup in 2021, occupying the two main positions of a council tasked with driving the transition to civilian rule and planning the merger of the two forces they led.
Instead, however, alBurhan and Hemedti have dashed hopes of a democratic transition in the coming months after disagreements between them plunged Sudan into chaos.