The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that the situation for civilians in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region is worsening as fighting between the country’s two rival armed groups escalates and intercommunal tensions rise. OCHA reported Friday that renewed clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur “have killed dozens of civilians and wounded many more; thousands have been displaced and civilian property has been destroyed or damaged.”
The UN’s humanitarian agency said at least 17 people were killed and 35 were injured over the past week in Nyala in South Darfur, and 17,500 people fled their homes in search of safety. Military clashes and intercommunal fighting have also been reported in Zalingei, El Fasher and El Geneina, with more people being killed and displaced.
While much hope is being placed on the Jeddah talks to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian access, OCHA calls on all parties to refrain from escalating and expanding the conflict.
“Darfurians have suffered enough, not least women, in the past and in the current conflict,” said Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, Friday.
On Thursday, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, also expressed her deep concern by the military escalation in Darfur and its impact on civilians.
“I am alarmed by reports that civilians are being caught in the ongoing fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur, in a context of heightened intercommunal tensions, recalling the events in El Geneina in Darfur last June,” she said.
Nkweta-Salami reiterated her call on all parties to Sudan’s conflict to uphold their obligations under International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law to protect civilians in the course of hostilities.
“At a time when so much hope is being placed on the Jeddah talks to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and facilitated humanitarian access, I call on all parties to refrain from escalating and expanding the conflict. The toll this conflict is taking on civilians is unimaginable,” the Humanitarian Coordinator said.
“Fighting needs to stop and parties to the conflict need to ensure the safe passage of humanitarian assistance to the millions of people in Sudan who desperately need it”.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), at least 10,000 people have been killed and thousands more have been injured since two rival generals plunged the country into war on April 15. The real figure is estimated to be much higher.
Since April, at least 6 million people have become displaced inside Sudan or have sought refuge in neighboring countries. While more than 4.8 million people – Sudanese and refugees already residing in the country - are displaced within Sudan, around 1.2 million women, men, and children have fled to neighboring countries in search of assistance and protection.
More than six months into the conflict, Sudan is not only the fastest growing displacement crisis globally, but has also become the largest internal displacement crisis in the world with over 7.1 million Sudanese displaced within the country, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
According to the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR), the refugee flow from Sudan appears to be unstoppable.
William Spindler, UNHCR spokesperson, said that the UNHCR’s director of external relations, who currently is on the border in White Nile State, reports that more than 10,000 people have arrived from Sudan into South Sudan in just the past few days.
“We have seen a sharp increase in the last week of 15 percent more people arriving than in the previous week,” said Spindler, noting that the makeup of the new arrivals was different than before.
“In the past, most of the people to arrive in South Sudan were South Sudanese who had been refugees in Sudan returning to their home,” he said.
“Now, we are seeing mostly Sudanese fleeing … citizens of Sudan fleeing into South Sudan,” most of whom, he said, apparently were fleeing from an increase in violence and sexual assault.
OCHA spokesperson Laerke said, “We know from our colleagues in UNFPA [UN Population Fund] that they consider a total of 4.2 million people, including refugees in Sudan, are at risk of gender-based violence. That is just a mind-numbingly high number.”
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reported Friday that an increasing number of women and girls in the Darfur region have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by men affiliated with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. They said women and girls reportedly are being held in inhumane, degrading, slave-like conditions, where they allegedly are forcibly married and held for ransom.
“Credible information from survivors, witnesses and other sources suggests more than 20 women and girls have been taken, but the number could be higher,” said Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Some sources have reported seeing women and girls in chains on pickup trucks and in cars.”
Throssel said this shocking situation most likely is much worse than the numbers indicate, noting that cases of conflict-related sexual violence are never fully reported because of the shame attached to these violations.
“According to our documentation, at least 105 people have been subjected to sexual violence since the hostilities began on 15 April, 2023,” the OHCHR spokesperson said.
“At least 70 percent of the confirmed incidents of sexual violence recorded — 37 incidents in total — are attributed to men in RSF uniforms, eight to armed men affiliated with the RSF, two to men in unidentified uniform, and one to the Sudan Armed Forces,” she said, adding that the remaining cases involved unidentified men.
Human rights officials are calling for the prompt release of the abducted women and girls, for all alleged cases of sexual violence to be investigated and for perpetrators of the crimes to be brought to justice.
The RSF and the Sudanese army both have denied allegations of human rights abuses against civilians, while accusing each other of committing rights violations. Answering questions from the journalists, Throssell said OHCHR believed that the majority of the crimes had been committed by the Rapid Support Forces.
The scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented. The UN says the country is experiencing a “humanitarian crisis of epic proportions”. Millions of people – especially in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – lack access to food, water, shelter, electricity, education, health care and nutrition.
The number of people in need of humanitarian aid stands now at 24.7 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population. Among them are more than 13 million children in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian support.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimates, 20.3 million people, or 40 percent of Sudan's population, are facing hunger. Of these, 6.3 million people are at emergency levels of hunger, only one step away from famine.
The revised 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Sudan calls for US$2.6 billion to provide lifesaving assistance to an estimated 18.1 million people inside the country by the end of this year. As of November 5, the HRP is only 34 percent funded.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Sudan: Alarming reports of women and girls abducted and forced to marry, held for ransom, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press briefing notes, released November 3, 2023
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/11/sudan-alarming-reports-women-and-girls-abducted-and-forced-marry-held
Full text: Statement by Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, officer-in-charge of UNITAMS, Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator on the protection of civilians in Darfur, UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), statement, released November 2, 2023
https://unitams.unmissions.org/en/statement-deputy-special-representative-secretary-general-sudan-officer-charge-unitams-resident