UN: Sudan War Triggers Massive Humanitarian Crisis with 13 Million Displaced as Conflict Enters Third Year
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Sudan’s civil war has displaced 13 million people as it enters its third year, the United Nations said Monday. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 8.6 million have been displaced internally, while nearly 4 million have fled to neighboring countries.
Sudan’s civil war erupted on April 15, 2023, in Khartoum and quickly spread across the country, pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against their former ally, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has fractured Sudan into warlord-controlled territories, pushed parts of the nation into famine, left tens of thousands dead, and seen both sides accused of committing war crimes.
Olga Sarrado Mur, spokesperson for UNHCR, called Sudan’s civil war “the world’s most damaging displacement crisis,” adding it has left behind “a colossal trail of suffering, with families torn apart, clouding the future of millions.”
Refugees have reported enduring “systemic sexual violence and other human rights violations, as well as witnessing mass killings,” Mur stated.
The UN reports that the number of children and adolescents in need has nearly doubled over the past year, with famine and a severe lack of healthcare among the most urgent concerns.
On the eve of the war’s second anniversary, the RSF launched an offensive last week in Darfur to seize El-Fasher—the last major city in the region still held by the army.
The assault, which began Thursday and continued through Sunday, targeted the city and nearby famine-stricken displacement camps, including Zamzam and Abou Shouk.
Around 400,000 people have been forced to flee Sudan’s largest displacement camp in Darfur after the RSF seized control, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday.
“Between 60,000 and 80,000 households were displaced from Zamzam [Internally Displaced Persons] camp due to heightened insecurity,” the IOM stated.
The RSF assault left hundreds dead or injured, according to government officials and aid groups.
The surge in Darfur violence comes just ahead of an international aid conference in London on Tuesday, with officials from the UK, Germany, France, the EU, and the African Union set to attend.
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