Nearly a year after the outbreak of war in Sudan, the conflict continues to rage, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes every day and creating one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian emergencies and displacement crises in the world. The number of displaced people has now surpassed 8.8 million, with more than 2 million of them having crossed borders.
Fighting in Sudan erupted on April 15, 2023, sparked by a power struggle between two rival generals. Aid agencies say the war is having catastrophic consequences for a population of nearly 49 million people - more than half of whom, 24.8 million, are in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance.
“The ongoing conflict has shattered people’s lives, filling them with fear and loss. Attacks on civilians, and conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence continue unabated, in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law,” said Olga Sarrado Mur, spokesperson for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Tuesday in Geneva.
“Sudan has experienced the almost complete destruction of its urban middle class: architects, doctors, teachers, nurses, engineers, and students have lost everything.”
UNHCR warned that access constraints, security risks and logistical challenges are hampering the humanitarian response. Without incomes, and amid disrupted aid deliveries and harvests, people cannot get food, prompting warnings of worsening hunger and malnutrition in parts of the country.
The war in Sudan is driving hunger to record levels: 18 million people are suffering from acute hunger, including 5 million in emergency situations - on the brink of famine. In the Darfur region, 1.7 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger.
While the United Nations has received reports of children dying from malnutrition, experts have warned that catastrophic levels of food insecurity - famine conditions - are expected in parts of West Darfur, Khartoum and among internally displaced people (IDPs), particularly in hard-to-reach areas of Darfur.
Since April last years, tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured in the war, and millions have been uprooted from their homes. Due to insecurity, access constraints and lack of funding, humanitarian agencies have reached only 2.3 million people with life-saving assistance within the country out of 14.7 million people targeted for assistance this year.
Sarrado Mur said “thousands are crossing borders daily as if the emergency had started yesterday.”
In South Sudan, on average over 1,800 people are still arriving every day, increasing pressure on overstretched infrastructure and exacerbating the vast humanitarian needs. The country has received the most people from Sudan – nearly 640,000 people – many of them South Sudanese returning after many years.
Chad has experienced the largest influx of refugees in its history, with more than 570,000 people crossing the border. Over 150,000 women, children, and men remain in border areas in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, largely due to funding shortfalls.
In the Central African Republic, last month alone, over 2,200 people arrived from Sudan to hard-to-reach areas where logistical challenges hinder aid delivery.
The number of Sudanese registered with UNHCR in Egypt has increased fivefold over the past year, with a daily average of between 2,000 to 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Sudan approaching UNHCR refugee reception areas in Greater Cairo and Alexandria.
Ethiopia, which already hosts one of the largest refugee populations on the African continent, also reports continued new refugee arrivals, recently surpassing 50,000.
“Those crossing borders, mostly women and children, are arriving in remote areas with little to nothing and in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care,” the UNHCR spokesperson said.
“Many families have been separated and arrive in distress. Parents and children have witnessed or experienced appalling violence, making psychosocial support a priority.”
Many children also arrive malnourished. In Chad, more than 33,000 cases of moderate acute malnutrition and 16,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) have been identified among child arrivals under 5 years in the past few months.
"As the conflict continues, and the lack of assistance and opportunities deepens, more people will be forced to flee Sudan to neighboring countries or to move further, risking their lives by embarking on long, dangerous journeys to safety," Sarrado Mur said.
UNHCR statistics also show increased movements of Sudanese refugees to Europe, with 6,000 arriving in Italy from Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of 2023 – an almost sixfold increase from the previous year.
Despite the magnitude of this crisis, funding remains critically low. Only 7 percent of the requirements outlined in the 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for Sudan have been fulfilled. Similarly, the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for inside Sudan is just 6 percent funded.
“UNHCR and partners are saving lives but in many locations, we have been unable to provide even the bare minimum. Firm commitments from the international community to support Sudan and the countries hosting refugees are needed to ensure those forced to flee by the war can live in dignity,” the spokesperson said.
Fighting broke out last April between forces loyal to Sudan's army chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two generals were once allies in Sudan's transitional government following a coup in 2021, but have become rivals for power. The conflict erupted amid a stalled transition to elections and a civilian-led government.
Nearly twelve months after the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF began in the capital, Khartoum, more than 8.8 million people have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge inside and outside Sudan. More than 6.8 million of those displaced are within Sudan, while more than 2 million others have sought refuge in other countries. At least 1.8 million have fled across borders into neighboring South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Central African Republic.
In total, some 12 million people are now displaced by conflict in Sudan, including more than 9.5 million within the country, making Sudan the largest internal displacement crisis in the world and one of the two largest displacement crises in the world, alongside the Syrian war.
In a related development Tuesday, representatives of humanitarian organizations working in Sudan and its neighboring countries sounded the alarm that Sudan is “balancing on the precipice of one of the world’s worst hunger crises”, urging all actors to immediately scale up efforts to prevent famine and avoid the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Ahead of the 'International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its Neighbors', which will take place in Paris on April 15, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on donors, United Nations agencies, and the parties to the conflict - and their regional allies - to facilitate an immediate scaling up of the humanitarian response.
“Hunger and suffering are at unprecedented levels, and yet we know Sudan has not hit its worst level of suffering. We can use words like ‘famine-like conditions’, but to be brutally frank, this does mean children are already dying”, said Dominic MacSorley, Humanitarian Ambassador of the international aid agency Concern Worldwide in a statement.
Further information
Full text: Thousands still fleeing Sudan daily, after one year of war, UNHCR, briefing notes, published April 9, 2024
https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/thousands-still-fleeing-sudan-daily-after-one-year-war
Full text: BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE: Humanitarian organisations urge participants of the Paris Conference for Sudan and its Neighbouring Countries to take immediate action to prevent further suffering and death, Inter-Agency Working Group on Disaster Preparedness for East and Central Africa, South Sudan NGO Forum, Sudan INGO Forum, joint press release, published April 9, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/its-too-late-humanitarian-organisations-urge-participants-paris-conference-sudan-and-its-neighbouring-countries-take-immediate-action-prevent-further-suffering-and-death