The UN Security Council expressed “concern” on Friday about increasing violence in war-torn Sudan, a day after it reported that seven million people have been displaced by the conflict.
In a joint statement, the council condemned “in the strongest possible terms” attacks on civilians and the spread of the conflict “to areas where large numbers of internally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers live.”
“The members of the Security Council expressed concern about the spreading violence and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan,” the statement said, reflecting the deteriorating situation in the country.
In addition to the seven million internally displaced people, another 1.5 million fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations on Thursday.
Since fighting broke out on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the town of Wad Madani, 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of Khartoum, has been became a refuge for thousands of displaced people during the conflict.
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But the fighting has also expanded there, according to the Security Council, which is once again causing refugees to flee.
“According to the International Organization for Migration, up to 300,000 people have fled Wad Madani in Al-Jazira state in a new wave of large-scale displacement,” UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday.
As rival security forces battle for footholds in the city, shopkeepers this week boarded up their stores to ward off looters while women disappeared from the streets amid fears of sexual violence.
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The council called on the warring parties to allow “quick, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Sudan.”
It condemned an attack on an International Committee of the Red Cross convoy on December 10 and called for “increasing humanitarian assistance to Sudan.”
The war between the army and the RSF has killed 12,190 people, according to conservative estimates from the Armed Conflict Locations and Events Data project.
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