The fighting in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries has displaced “almost 8 million” people, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, regretted on Wednesday and called for urgent help.
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Since April 15, 2023, the war has been raging between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the Rapid Support Forces (FSR, paramilitary) of General Mohammed Hamdane Daglo, the former number two in military power. According to a greatly underestimated report by the NGO Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled), the conflict has left more than 13,000 dead.
The “brutal conflict in Sudan” has left “almost 8 million” displaced, according to a press release from Filippo Grandi, who is traveling in Ethiopia and calling for “urgent support (…) to meet their needs.”
“I have heard heartbreaking stories of loss of family, friends, home and livelihood, but in the midst of this despair I have also seen the refugees' determination to carry on if only they are given the support and the chance,” Mr Grandi said.
On December 21, a UN spokesman estimated that the conflict, which had displaced 7.1 million people, was “the world's largest displacement crisis.”
According to the United Nations, one of Sudan's six neighboring countries, Ethiopia, has welcomed more than 100,000 people fleeing fighting since April 2023. These are in addition to the approximately 50,000 Sudanese refugees already in the country.
“Last week, the number of new arrivals in Chad since April last year exceeded 500,000, and in South Sudan an average of 1,500 people are crossing the country every day,” the UNHCR added in a statement.