The United Nations Migration Agency on Monday revealed that the number of internally displaced people in Sudan has reached more than 10 million.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the figure included 2.83 million people driven from their homes before the start of the current war by multiple local conflicts in recent years.
An IOM spokesperson Mohammedali Abunajela in an interview with Associated Press said more than 2 million others have been driven abroad, mainly to neighbouring Chad, South Sudan and Egypt ,
Sudan’s conflict began in April last year, when growing tensions between army leaders and powerful rapid support paramilitary forces erupted into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.
“Imagine a city the size of London being displaced. That’s what it looks like, but it’s happening with the constant threat of crossfire, with famine, disease and brutal ethnic and gender-based violence ,” Amy said Pope, IOM Director General, in a statement.
Last month, the United Nations food agency warned the warring parties that there was a serious risk of widespread famine and death in the western region of Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they did not allow the delivery of food. humanitarian aid in this vast western region.
Ms Pope called for a unified response from the international community to avert “imminent famine” in Sudan, where humanitarian needs are “massive, acute and immediate” .
She said less than a fifth of the funds requested by IOM for this response have been disbursed.
The war has ravaged Sudan, killing more than 14,000 people and injuring thousands more, while pushing the population to the brink of famine.
The number of refugees and internally displaced people means that more than a quarter of Sudan’s 47 million people have been driven from their homes.
