According to the organisation, six months of conflict have caused the nation to experience the “worst humanitarian” crisis in recent memory.
The UN said on Sunday that over 5.6 million people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the armed war in Sudan between the military and competing paramilitary groups, which has resulted in up to 9,000 deaths.
According to Martin Griffiths, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, “half a year of war has plunged Sudan into one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” adding that “25 million people are in need of aid.”
On April 15, fierce violence broke out in Khartoum, the capital of the African country, following months of hostilities between General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In addition to the already-torn western Darfur region, where Governor Khamis Abdullah Abakar was killed in mid-June for purportedly accusing the RSF of genocide, warfare has also extended to other regions of the Sahel nation.
Griffiths claims that for the past six months, “bloodshed and terror have not abated for civilians, especially in Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan.”
The UN humanitarian director said, “Horrific reports of rape and sexual violence continue to emerge, and clashes are increasingly occurring along ethnic lines, particularly in Darfur.”
The UN and the WHO stated last month that frequent assaults on hospitals and medical personnel in Sudan have exacerbated disease outbreaks and fatalities.
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They stated that between mid-May and September, a probable measles outbreak and severe malnutrition caused more than 1,200 children under the age of five to pass away in refugee camps in Sudan’s White Nile state. The UN and WHO warned that the shortage of personnel, life-saving medications, and essential equipment has overburdened health institutions.
At least 45 humanitarian workers have been slain or imprisoned since the start of the crisis, according to Griffiths, and “almost all of them are national staff.”
The United Nations has urged the warring sides in Sudan to uphold international humanitarian law, protect civilians, permit relief, and renew their commitment to negotiation to put an end to the crisis.
RSF leader Dagalo stated in August that he wanted to work with Burhan to establish a long-term truce as part of a plan to put an end to the fighting and create a “new Sudan.” The army head turned down the RSF proposition, saying he wouldn’t “make deals with traitors.”
