The displacement crisis prompted by ongoing conflict in Sudan continues unabated, with nearly six million people forced out of their homes and women and children making up nearly 90 percent of those uprooted, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Wednesday. On Thursday, the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that six months into the war in Sudan, people's lives are still in danger from bombings, shelling and shootings, while the country's health system is on the edge of collapse.
Protection crisis
UNHCR said Wednesday that the humanitarian emergency in Sudan triggered by two rival generals battling for control of the country has created a protection crisis both inside Sudan and in neighboring countries of asylum that risks destabilizing the region the longer the conflict goes on.
More than 5.8 million people in Sudan have become uprooted from their homes since clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in mid-April, making it the fastest growing displacement crisis in the world. While more than 4.7 million people – Sudanese and refugees already residing in the country - are displaced within Sudan, at least 1.1 million women, men, and children have fled to neighboring countries in search of assistance and protection.
“I think anywhere in the world where you have a conflict that drags on, and there is the potential for Sudan to drag on, it will become another of one of my long list of protracted problems that I have in my part of the world,” said Ayman Gharaibeh, UNHCR regional bureau director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“Start from Yemen and into Libya, all of them. So, quite clearly, even if you have the most hospitable nation, even if it is fully funded, there comes a limit where the public. Even if it is supported, they will reach a point of fatigue,” he said. “I hope it does not come to that.”
The UN Refugee Agency said the dangers encountered by people fleeing violence also have made Sudan one of the largest protection crises facing the agency today.
“This is one of the largest protection crises that we are faced with today,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes and regional refugee coordinator for the Sudan situation.
“Inside Sudan itself, there are a lot of people in urban settings that are affected equally and who do not have the resources to leave.”
“We are close to 1.1 million women, children, as well as older persons who have crossed the borders, often under very difficult circumstances,” said Balde.
The UN agency described how families had faced harrowing journeys and become separated while on the move, amid increasing reports of gender-based violence. Malnourishment among children is now described as a major crisis, along with disease outbreaks.
During a recent visit to Sudan, Balde said he witnessed the desperation, distress and dangers experienced by vulnerable, unprotected people as they were leaving for South Sudan.
“I have seen and I have witnessed the level of human rights violations that have happened in Sudan. So that what we hear from people who have crossed the borders is really heartbreaking,” he said.
“And that is the protection crisis that we are faced with, and it has been ongoing for the past six months,” Balde added.
His colleague Abdouraouf Gnon Konde, UNHCR regional bureau director for West and Central Africa, agreed that the implications of the Sudan crisis on neighboring countries were severe, especially on Chad and the Central African Republic.
“Both nations are grappling with the impacts of refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan, bringing with them stories of despair, loss, and unfortunately continued vulnerability,” said Konde.
He noted that Chad had become the epicenter of the Sudanese crisis with 420,000 new arrivals in the past six months, a number that was likely to reach 600,000 by the end of the year.
“This is a protection crisis. Of the many horror stories I heard, the scale of gender-based violence is particularly chilling, including sexual assault, rape, forced prostitution,” said Konde.
Before this crisis arose, Konde noted that Chad already was hosting 450,000 refugees from Sudan and other countries. “Today, one in 17 is a refugee in the country,” and we do not have the resources to support them.”
“In Chad we estimate probably that by the end of the year we will reach unfortunately the number of 600,000 Sudanese refugees who will have just arrived following what’s happening in Sudan,” added Konde.
While protection is of primordial concern, Balde said millions of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) also are threatened by their inability to receive lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Balde said only 29 percent of the $1 billion aid agencies needed to combat the humanitarian emergency triggered by the conflict has been received. He warned of serious repercussions for the millions of vulnerable people unable to fend for themselves if the international community does not close this funding shortfall.
“It is people who no longer can eat. People who no longer are able to have access to their basic rights. But it is also negative coping mechanisms,” Balde said. “It is about child labor. It is about risk of prostitution. It is taking communities and putting them in the hands of smugglers and traffickers.”
Balde said the UNHCR projects the number of Sudanese refugees is likely to reach 1.8 million by the end of the year.
Health crisis
In a related development, the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors with Borders) warned today that Sudanese health staff and volunteers are struggling to respond to people's medical needs, and the country's health system is on the edge of collapse.
MSF said - six months since conflict broke out - Sudan's brutal war continued to inflict immeasurable suffering: endangering lives, displacing millions from their homes, and causing deaths even in areas far from frontlines.
MSF teams on the ground noted an absence of humanitarian organizations working in the country. In those areas where assistance was being provided, the response was insufficient for people's immense needs, MSF said in a statement. The non-governmental organization (NGO) is calling for an immediate increase in humanitarian efforts.
"Sudan's crisis epitomizes a catastrophic failure of humanity, marked by the warring parties' failing to protect civilians or facilitate essential humanitarian access, and by the dire neglect and shortcomings of international organizations in delivering an adequate response," said Christos Christou, International President of MSF.
"Without an immediate, substantial escalation of the humanitarian response, what we are witnessing now will be the beginning of an even larger tragedy yet to unfold -- meaning more people will continue to needlessly die."
Across Sudan, the fragile health system is struggling; emergency rooms are congested, and many hospitals have closed completely. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 67 percent of all main hospitals are out of service, and hospitals that remain fully or partially functional risk closing for lack of medical staff, supplies, water and electricity.
In the capital, Khartoum, MSF medical teams are witnessing one of the most intense urban conflicts currently taking place worldwide. Large numbers of injured people are arriving at the hospitals with life-threatening wounds, often leaving medical staff with no choice but to amputate.
Humanitarian needs across the Sudan and in neighboring countries continue to rise as the situation deteriorates. 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.
Hunger has reached record levels, with more than 20.3 million people across the country, over 42 percent of the population, facing acute hunger, including 6.3 million who are “one step away from famine.”
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Six months of war and neglect in Sudan is a “catastrophic failure of humanity”, MSF press release, published October 12, 2023
https://www.msf.org/six-months-war-and-neglect-sudan-catastrophic-failure-humanity