Since war broke out in Sudan 17 days ago, more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee the country for their lives. Sudan faces a refugee crisis and fighting blocks humanitarian aid routes in a nation where two-thirds of the population already depends on foreign aid. But according to recent UN estimates, the number of people displaced to neighboring countries could reach 815,000 in the coming weeks.
This was announced by the spokesperson for the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), Olga Sarrado, who stated that the UN is using the projections to plan assistance for these people.
These refugees include 580,000 Sudanese and more than 200,000 foreigners now living in the country. The total population of Sudan is 46 million people.
Egypt, the neighboring country that has become the main destination for refugees, reported that 40,000 Sudanese have crossed its border, on a journey with very adverse conditions. Others have gone to Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia, or crossed the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia on evacuation boats.
The UN has also revealed that its humanitarian operation in the African country, which it carries out through its agencies and a network of NGOs, suffers from a serious funding shortfall, having received only 14% of the 1,750 million dollars it had requested. to operate in the country in 2023.
According to the Ministry of Health, at least 528 people have died and 4,599 have been injured, although United Nations estimates assume that the number of victims must be much higher.
In West Darfur, an area bordering Chad that between 2003 and 2008 was the scene of an ethnic conflict that caused 300,000 deaths, the health system "has totally collapsed" because of the clashes. In this province with a lot of support for the paramilitary group of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR), the ethnic combats have left dozens dead and hundreds injured, despite the consecutive agreed truces.
According to what the Sudanese Doctors Union said on Tuesday, in the city of Al Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, "in the midst of a total collapse of the health situation (...) we have been able to count 94 deaths and the count continues, while Hundreds of people have been injured as a result of the barbaric ethnic fighting linked to the conflict in the country.
On Tuesday morning the violent fighting in Khartoum between the army and the paramilitaries continued, ignoring a truce that was agreed on Sunday for 72 hours but has been violated on several occasions by the two parties, who accuse each other of it. "We heard shots, combat planes and anti-aircraft fire," a resident of Khartoum, the capital, told the AFP agency.
Airstrikes have hit Bahri, on the east bank, while clashes have broken out in Omdurman, to the west, according to Reuters news agency.
Neither the army nor the FAR leaders show signs of backing down, but neither do they appear capable of securing a quick victory, raising the possibility of a protracted conflict that could draw in outside powers and worsen the humanitarian crisis.
