NEW YORK CITY: Dozens of civilians, at least, have been killed and thousands displaced as fighting intensifies across Sudan, including North Darfur, the UN said on Tuesday as it warned of worsening humanitarian and nutritional crises.

Local reports suggested at least 19 civilians were killed during a ground assault on Monday in the Jirjir area of North Darfur, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

In a separate incident, 10 civilians were killed and nine injured in a drone attack on Sinja, the capital of Sennar State, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.

The UN is alarmed by the continuing harm to civilians and the growing numbers of displaced people as fighting spreads to several parts of the country, Dujarric said.

“The violence continues to drive people from their homes, and it must stop,” he added.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 8,000 people were displaced on Friday from villages near Kernoi in North Darfur. Some fled to other parts of the state, others crossed the border into Chad seeking refuge, further straining already fragile humanitarian conditions, Dujarric said.

The displacements are unfolding alongside a worsening nutritional emergency in North Darfur, he added. A survey carried out last month by UNICEF and its partners in areas around Tina, Um Baru and Kernoi revealed acute levels of malnutrition far exceeding the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold of 15 percent. It found the highest rate of acute malnutrition, 53 percent, was in Um Baru.

Dujarric again called on all parties involved in the conflict to take immediate action to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, respect international humanitarian law, and enable rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.

He urged donors to urgently scale up funding to help provide deliveries of life-saving aid, and warned that the continuing fighting and displacement risks worsening what is already one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world.

The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, will visit Sudan from Jan. 14 to 18. He will hold talks with authorities in Port Sudan, as well as representatives of civil society groups and the UN Country Team.

He will also visit Northern State, including Al-Afad gathering site to meet people displaced by the conflict from Darfur and Kordofan, as well as humanitarian partners working there.