NAIROBI — More than 100,000 people have fled Sudan for
neighboring countries and more than 300,000 have been internally displaced,
according to figures released Tuesday by UN agencies, as the fighting between
rival generals threatened to undermine regional stability and tear apart
Africa’s third-largest nation.
اضافة اعلان
The UN refugee agency also warned that more than 800,000
people could try to escape the conflict in Sudan by the end of this year to the
seven nations bordering the northeastern African country — many of them already
reeling from their own economic, political and refugee crises.
The clashes between the Sudanese Army, led by Gen. Abdel
Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Lt. Gen.
Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have only intensified despite calls for a cease-fire.
More than 450 people have died and more than 4,000 have been injured, according
to the World Health Organization.
On Tuesday morning, residents in parts of the capital,
Khartoum, reported intense clashes and heavy shelling throughout the night.
Many residents of the capital are without electricity and worried about
dwindling food and water. Given the deteriorating situation, the UN said it was
preparing for a mass exodus from Sudan.
“We hope it doesn’t come to that,” Filippo Grandi, the UN
high commissioner for refugees, said in a statement, “but if violence doesn’t
stop, we will see more people forced to flee Sudan seeking safety.”
The UN refugee agency said that the more than 100,000 people
who have already fled the conflict, now in its third week, have gone to neighboring
Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, the Central African Republic, and Ethiopia. More than
334,000 people were also internally displaced in 14 of Sudan’s 18 states, the
International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.
The UN predictions that more than 800,000 could flee over
the rest of this year were published after consultations with the seven
governments surrounding Sudan — the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, and South Sudan.
So far, more than 30,000 people have arrived in Chad, which
was already hosting 400,000 refugees from Sudan, many of whom fled the conflict
in the Darfur region in western Sudan. More than 20,000 people have also
arrived in South Sudan, said Raouf Mazou, the assistant high commissioner for
operations at the U.N. refugee agency. Egypt had also taken in about 14,000
people since the fighting began April 15, Mazou said.
The conflict has been most intense in major cities like
Khartoum and Omdurman, and observers and aid agencies say many more people will
try to flee the country if the violence drags on. Many Sudanese worry that the
clashes will only intensify in major cities as foreign governments finalize
evacuation plans for their citizens and diplomatic staff.
Sudan was hosting 1.3 million refugees from several
neighboring countries as well as Syria before the conflict broke out. Many were
gravitating to major towns and cities seeking work and help from aid agencies.
But a prolonged fight means aid agencies will be forced to halt or limit those
operations, pushing those refugees to flee and face an uncertain future.
Several aid agencies have suspended operations in the
country or have left their local staff members running slimmed-down outfits. On
Monday, the World Food Program said it would resume its services in Sudan weeks
after it halted operations following the killing of three of its staff members.
The United Nations predicted that a majority of the refugees
fleeing the violence in Sudan would be Sudanese nationals, but more than
200,000 South Sudanese refugees are also expected to return home to even more
difficult circumstances, the agency said.
Humanitarian organizations have already begun preparing
contingency plans to receive refugees in countries including the Central
African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan. But aid officials say all of
these locations face significant challenges, including volatile security and
difficult supply chains.
As the number of refugees grows, aid agencies will also need
increased funding, personnel and relief supplies, said Allison Huggins, the
deputy regional director for Africa at Mercy Corps, a nongovernmental
organization.
“This conflict would not only have catastrophic consequences
for Sudan but also for neighboring countries,” Huggins said. “Any prolonged
period of insecurity would have far-reaching consequences for the region,
impacting the economy and the growing refugee population.”
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