Over 430,000 flee Sudan conflict, UN reports

The ongoing conflict in Sudan has caused over 330,000 people to become displaced within the country and over 100,000 others to escape through the borders, the United Nations has revealed.

According to a situation report by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), “the total estimate of displaced individuals across Sudan has reached 334,053”.

Olga Sarrado, the spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) further told reporters in Geneva that “Over 100,000 refugees are estimated to be among those who have now fled Sudan to neighbouring countries, including Sudanese refugees, South Sudanese returning home prematurely, and others who were themselves refugees in Sudan”.

IOM spokesman, Paul Dillon, also told reporters that “About 72 per cent, roughly 240,000 of these new internal displacements were reported in West and South Darfur alone”. He emphasised that the number of people displaced in the last two weeks since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “exceeds all conflict-related displacement in Sudan in 2022”.

The opposing sides are set to sit down for talks in Saudi Arabia in an effort to resolve the crisis, but as the conflict continues to rage on, the UNHCR has estimated that over 800,000 people could potentially flee to neighbouring countries if such a resolution is not reached.

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