PORT SUDAN: A senior United Nations official on Sunday said that more than 16 months of war in Sudan has killed more than 20,000 people.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), gave the number at a news conference in Sudan’s Port Sudan, which serves as the center of the internationally recognised, military-backed government. He warned the death toll could be much higher.
“Sudan is suffering through a perfect storm of crisis,” Tedros said as he concluded p his two-day visit to Sudan.
Sudan in April last year was plunged into chaos when tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, erupted into open warfare across the African country.
The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, and other main city areas into battlefields, destroying civilian infrastructure and an already battered health care system. Without the basics, many hospitals and medical facilities have been shut down.
The conflict has caused the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 13 million people have been forced to leave their homes since fighting started according to the International Organization for Migration. They include over 2.3 million who have fled to neighboring states as refugees.
The fighting has seen atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.
U.N.-backed human rights investigators have called for the creation of an independent and impartial force to protect civilians, blaming both sides for war crimes including mutilation, torture and murder.
Massive floods in recent weeks have added to the misery. Dozens of people have been killed and vital infrastructure has been washed away in 12 of Sudan’s 18 provinces by the flash flooding.
A cholera outbreak is another the latest calamity for the country. The disease has killed at least 165 and infected about 4,200 others in recent weeks, the health ministry said in its latest update on Friday.
“We are calling on the world to wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it’s living through,” Tedros said, adding that an immediate cease-fire is required urgently.
