More than three million people have now fled their homes in Sudan in reponse to the spiralling violence of the three-month-old conflict between rival armed forces, the United Nations has said.
Figures from the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed that more than 2.4 million people were now displaced within Sudan, while nearly 724,000 have escaped across the country's borders.
"We have surpassed the three million figure of people displaced due to the conflict in Sudan," IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told AFP.
"This is more than a figure, however," Msehli added: "These are people who have been uprooted, fleeing for their lives; families that have been separated, and children that won't be able to go to school."
The Humanitarian situation in #Sudan🇸🇩 continues to deteriorate.
— IOM Sudan 🇺🇳 (@IOMSudan) July 12, 2023
Number of displaced people exceeded 3.1 million.
🟡2,414, 625 Internally displaced
🟡737,801 arrivals in neighbouring countries
Read our latest Sudan Regional Crisis Response: https://t.co/SfLcVQvuBR pic.twitter.com/XJjTED4bIq
The number of people who have sought refuge outside Sudan is likely to be even higher than the IOM's figure as the number of individual arrivals it gives for Egypt - nearly 256,000 - cites Egyptian foreign ministry figures from June 18.
The UN is calling on the international community to provide aid and protection to those affected by the conflict.
"We simply cannot turn away from Sudan. An immediate cessation of hostilities is urgently needed," Msehli concluded.
Blocked dialogue
The fighting in Sudan broke out on 15 April, when the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan clashed with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The two fell out in a power struggle.
At least 3,000 people have been killed in the violence in less than three months, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
On Monday, the east African regional bloc IGAD proposed the creation of a regional peace force for Sudan, at a summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
But the Sudanese army categorically refused the idea of a foreign intervention on Wednesday, even accusing Kenya of taking side.
The forces also rejected a potential Egyptian mediation.
Crimes against humanity and civil war
On Thursday, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, is expected to brief the UN Security Council on the crisis in Sudan.
The head of UN mission in the country, Volker Perthes, said on Wednesday in Brussels that Sudan's warring sides must face "accountability" for the "crimes" committed in their conflict, which risks spiralling into a regional crisis.
The fighting now really "risks morphing into an ethnicised, tribalised and ideologised conflict, which is much closer to being a full-blown civil war," he warned.
The @UN's @UNITAMS @UNOAU_ commitment to sue for peace in #sudan is resolute, and a joint endeavour with all our partners @AUC_PAPS #AU-UN Partnership in #Peace and Security
— UN Office to the African Union - UNOAU (@UNOAU_) July 5, 2023
cc: @AUC_MoussaFaki pic.twitter.com/LX8uVQcMHd
(with AFP)
