UN Says Thousands Flee Southern Sudan Town Amid Escalating Violence

Clashes erupted in the area last week between the army and the RSF

Sun Jan 12 2025
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PORT SUDAN: The United Nations’ migration agency said Sunday that thousands have fled a town in southern Sudan since clashes started between the Sudanese army and rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last week.

The conflict in Sudan, which began in mid-April 2023, has seen army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan facing off against his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“Between 1,000 and 3,000 households were displaced from Um Rawaba town” in North Kordofan state in the country’s south in just five days, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration said.

Sudan, UAE, RSF, White House
A fire rages in a livestock market area in al-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, on September 1, 2023, in the aftermath of bombardment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). —Photo by AFP

Clashes erupted in the area last week between the army and the RSF, at the same time that the military continued to make advancements on the central Sudan state of Al-Jazira, some 300 kilometres of  northeast.

Families fled “due to increased security concerns following continued clashes across the locality”, the IOM said.

11.5 million people displaced across Sudan

According to the latest UN figures released on Wednesday, over 205,000 people in North Kordofan are currently displaced. Across Sudan, 11.5 million people are internally displaced, including 2.7 million displaced by previous conflicts, marking what the UN has described as the world’s largest displacement crisis.

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The ongoing war has also claimed the lives of tens of thousands and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Last month, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review reported that famine has already affected five regions in western and southern Sudan and is expected to spread to five more.

UN, Sudan, United Nations, Aid, Chad, Refugees, Darfur, Army, RSF, Hunger
—Photo by AFP

Around 350,000 people in North Kordofan are currently experiencing emergency levels of hunger, the report said.

The IPC said that “only a ceasefire can reduce the risk of famine spreading further”, with 24.6 million people — nearly half the population — already facing “high levels of acute food insecurity”.

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