Global Courant 2023-05-03 00:00:45
At least 334,000 people have been internally displaced in Sudan since fighting erupted for control of the country in mid-April, according to the United Nations.
A spokesman for the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva said on Tuesday that most of them, some 240,000 people, have been displaced in the areas of South and West Darfur, in the west of the country.
Even before the latest fighting began, there were 3.7 million people displaced by previous conflicts in Sudan.
Meanwhile, the number of people from Sudan seeking refuge in neighboring countries has exceeded 100,000, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Many of them have arrived in Chad, South Sudan and Egypt. Among them are Sudanese, but also refugees from other countries who had found refuge in Sudan.
“UNHCR, with governments and partners, is preparing for the possibility that over 800,000 people could flee the fighting in Sudan to neighboring countries,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi wrote on Monday, adding that: “We hope not that’s how it’s done.”
Sudan’s de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been fighting his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo with the help of the army since April 15. Daglo is the leader of the influential paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The two generals took over the leadership of the country of about 46 million people through two coups in 2019 and 2021. Hundreds of people have been killed since the fighting began.
Governments from around the world have launched evacuation missions to transport their citizens.
Global Courantl
