NEW YORK CITY: Nearly two years into the civil war in Sudan, the humanitarian crisis continues to spiral, with almost 13 million people now forcibly displaced and human rights violations escalating, the UN Refugee Agency warned on Monday.
“This is a very, very sad milestone,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, the agency’s regional director for East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.
Speaking to the press from Nairobi, he said that “close to 9 million Sudanese are internally displaced, and nearly 4 million have fled to neighboring countries,” making it the largest and fastest-growing displacement crisis in the world.
Balde also highlighted recent atrocities at the Zamzam displacement site, and in Abu Shouk near the town of El Fasher in Darfur, describing them as “just unacceptable events … another example of the massive violations of human rights happening in Sudan.”
The country has been locked in conflict since April 15, 2023, amid a power struggle between the Sudanese army and rival militia the Rapid Support Forces.
Scores of civilians were killed on Friday and Saturday in attacks by the RSF on El Fasher, Zamzam, Abu Shouk and other nearby locations in North Darfur State where displaced people were sheltering.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that preliminary figures put civilian deaths at 300, including 10 humanitarian workers from the nongovernmental organization Relief International, who were killed while operating one of the last functioning health centers in the Zamzam camp.
The El Fasher area has been under siege for more than a year, cutting hundreds of thousands of people off from lifesaving humanitarian aid. Famine conditions have been identified in Zamzam and two other nearby displacement camps, as well as 10 other areas in Sudan. A further 17 are at risk of famine as soon as next month.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the perpetrators of the latest attacks to be brought to justice. As the second anniversary of the conflict approaches, he urged all parties to “immediately cease the fighting and take steps towards an inclusive political process to put Sudan on a path towards peace and stability.”
More than two-thirds of Sudan’s population , 30.4 million people, urgently require humanitarian aid, with millions of them at risk of famine. About 80 percent of hospitals in conflict zones are no longer functioning, leaving millions without access to essential medical care amid a surge in outbreaks of disease.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese have been killed amid indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including in Darfur where ethnic violence has been constantly escalating.
Guterres renewed his call for the international community to unite in its efforts to bring an end to this “appalling conflict.”
Balde said the spillover from the war stretches far beyond Sudan’s borders and now affects countries that were not initially part of the regional refugee response, such as Uganda and Libya.
“This is not just a regional issue anymore,” he added. “Sudan is at the center of the African continent, and as this crisis continues more people are on the move, toward Southern Africa, the Gulf and Europe.”
The UN Refugee Agency’s $1.8 billion Regional Refugee Response Plan, which aims to support 4.9 million refugees and their host communities, is only 10 percent funded, a level Balde lamented as being “extremely, extremely low.”
He continued: “If you are in the fourth, soon fifth, month of the year and only funded at 10 percent, the level of support for food, water, shelter and education is going to be minimal.
“Communities that don’t have enough have shared what they have. That’s the true spirit of solidarity but they cannot do it alone.”
He urged donors to step up during a conference in London on Tuesday at which 20 foreign ministers will discuss the Sudan crisis.
“One expected outcome is greater support for both the refugees and the host governments,” Balde said. “Refugees are in need of urgent, life-saving support: food, health, shelter, protection services.”
In addition to financial aid, Balde emphasized the need for a ceasefire: “The people I see at the borders with Chad or South Sudan tell us one thing: they want normalcy so they can return home and take care of themselves.”
Neighboring South Sudan, which was already struggling with its own internal tensions, has received more than 1 million people from Sudan, adding to the burdens it faces as the country with the second-largest number of internally displaced persons and refugees after Sudan.
“It’s a very worrying situation,” said Balde, who noted that contingency plans are in place amid concerns about the renewed conflict in South Sudan.
He also addressed concerns surrounding the registration of refugees, which is a key step toward possible resettlement. He noted that the UN Refugee Agency supports national governments in this process but warned: “With funding going down, it’s going to be extremely difficult. That’s not the spirit of the Refugee Convention.”
He concluded with a stark reminder: “One in three Sudanese is displaced. One in six internally displaced persons globally is Sudanese. One in 10 refugees worldwide is from Sudan. That’s how devastating this crisis has been in just two years.”
