Nearly eight million displaced by Sudan war: United Nations

The war in Sudan has displaced nearly 8 million people, with urgent support needed to meet their needs.

The number of people uprooted by the war between rival Generals in Sudan is almost eight million, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who is on a visit to Ethiopia, called for “urgent and additional support to meet their needs”, his agency said in a statement disclosing the numbers.

“I heard stories of heartbreaking loss of family, friends, homes and livelihoods,” Mr. Grandi said in the statement.

The conflict between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted in mid-April last year. Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, torture and arbitrary detention of civilians. Diplomatic efforts to end the violence continue but have failed to bear fruit, and numerous ceasefires have been broken.

“Without further donor support, it will be extremely difficult to deliver much-needed help to those who need it most,” Mr. Grandi said.

Over 1,00,000 people have fled into Ethiopia, one of the six neighbouring countries sheltering the refugees, according to latest UN estimates.

The number of people who have gone to Chad since the war began crossed 5,00,000 last week, and an average of 1,500 flee into South Sudan each day, the UN statement said.