NAIROBI: The situation on South Sudan’s border was “completely overwhelming” as thousands flee war-torn Sudan each day, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned Monday.
The medical charity said up to 5,000 people were crossing the border every day. The United Nations recently put it even higher at 7-10,000 daily.
Sudan is suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies since conflict broke out in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with tens of thousands killed and millions displaced.
An MSF emergency coordinator in Renk town, near a transit center holding some 17,000 people according to the UN, said they were working with the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide care.
“But the situation is completely overwhelming and it’s not enough,” said Emanuele Montobbio.
Facilities had been expanded to accommodate the arrival of war wounded, he said, but they were unable to treat everyone.
“Over 100 wounded patients, many with serious injuries, still await surgery,” Montobbio said.
Bashir Ismail, from Mosmon in Blue Nile state, was recovering in hospital in Renk after an air raid.
“Something hit me in the chest — it was the most painful experience of my life,” he said.
“I was so disoriented that it felt like I had lost my memory.”
MSF South Sudan’s deputy medical coordinator Roselyn Morales said thousands who had crossed faced “critical shortages of food and shelter, clean water, shelter and health care.”
South Sudan is ill-equipped to handle the arrival of thousands seeking shelter from war, with the young country itself battling violence, endemic poverty and natural disasters.
Alhida Hammed fled to Renk after his village was attacked and he was shot in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.
“The houses were blazing, and everyone was running in different directions,” he said.
He now has no shelter and is living under a tree, but does not want to return to Sudan.
“Home is no longer a home — it is filled with bad memories.”
South Sudan overwhelmed by refugee influx: MSF
https://arab.news/76maa
South Sudan overwhelmed by refugee influx: MSF
- Sudan is suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies since conflict broke out in April 2023
Palestinian VP meets diplomat expected to serve on Trump’s Gaza peace board
- Media reports say he is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace
- Sheikh said that during his meeting with Mladenov, “an in-depth discussion took place on all political and field developments in the Palestinian territories“
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian vice president Hussein Al-Sheikh met on Friday with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who is expected to head the US-backed Board of Peace in Gaza.
The meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah comes a day after Mladenov held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and met with President Isaac Herzog.
Bulgarian diplomat Mladenov served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020.
Media reports say he is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace — a transitional body for the war-battered Palestinian territory which US President Donald Trump would theoretically chair.
In a statement on X, Sheikh said that during his meeting with Mladenov, “an in-depth discussion took place on all political and field developments in the Palestinian territories.”
He added there was “a focus on the situation in the Gaza Strip, means of transitioning to the second phase (of the ceasefire), mechanisms for implementing the US President Donald Trump’s plan, and UN Security Council Resolution 2803.”
That UN Security Council resolution endorsed the Trump plan in November.
Under Trump’s 20-point plan, Gaza will be governed by a temporary transitional technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, under the oversight and supervision of the Board of Peace.
Under the second stage of the fragile ceasefire that came into effect in October, Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons.
An international stabilization force is also to be deployed.
But talks to bring about the second phase stalled after Israel accused Hamas of delaying the return of the last hostage in its custody.
Netanyahu met with Mladenov in Jerusalem on Thursday and “reiterated that Hamas must be disarmed and the Gaza Strip must be demilitarised,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
It said that Mladenov “is set to become the Director of the Gaza Strip Board of Peace.”
Herzog also met with Mladenov on Thursday, a spokesman from his office said, without providing details.
US media outlet Axios has reported that Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace next week and that it would include around 15 world leaders.
“Among the countries expected to join the board are the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye,” Axios reported.
Some White House officials fear both Israel and Hamas are slow-walking the second stage of the ceasefire, with each side alleging frequent ceasefire violations.
