UNICEF calls for the protection of Sudan children

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) urged, on Friday, to protect Sudan’s children trapped in a “harsh nightmare”.

In a statement, UNICEF emphasised that “over one million children have recently been displaced due to two months of conflict in Sudan.”

The statement affirmed that “more than 13.6 million children are in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian support in Sudan, including water, health, nutrition and protection. This is the highest recorded number in the country since the conflict began in mid-April.”

Mandip O’Brien, UNICEF’s representative in Khartoum, stated, “Sudan’s future is at risk, and we cannot accept the continued loss and suffering of its children,” according to the same statement.

She added, “Sudan’s children are living in an endless harsh nightmare, bearing the brunt of a violent crisis in which they had no hand. They are exposed to gunfire, injury, abuse, displacement and malnutrition.”

“O’Brien emphasised that the situation in Darfur is a cause for particular concern, amidst continuous communication breakdowns and movement restrictions.”

The United Nations Agency, concerned with children, estimates that “approximately 5.6 million children are living in the five states of Darfur, with around 270,000 children recently displaced due to the fighting.”

Since mid-April, Khartoum and other cities have witnessed clashes between the Army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, resulting in hundreds of casualties and thousands of injuries among civilians. Additionally, there are approximately 2.2 million internally displaced persons, including nearly half a million refugees, in one of the world’s poorest countries.

READ: Over 13.6m children need urgent life-saving humanitarian support in Sudan