UN refugee agency warns more than 800,000 may flee Sudan
More than 800,000 people may flee Sudan as a result of the ongoing conflict, the United Nations refugee agency said, including Sudanese nationals and thousands of existing refugees temporarily residing in the country.
“In consultation with all governments and partners involved, we have agreed on a schedule for 815,000 people to flee to the seven neighboring countries,” UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Raouf Mazou told a member state briefing in Geneva. Switzerland.
Some 73,000 have already left Sudan, he added.
Mazou’s estimate includes about 580,000 Sudanese, with the others being refugees who had settled in the country for safety.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi later said the planning figure was indicative. “We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if the violence doesn’t stop, more people will have to flee Sudan in search of safety,” he said in a tweet.
The international body has said that a catastrophic humanitarian situation has already occurred since the fighting that broke out on April 15.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Millions of Sudanese, unable to afford the high prices necessary to escape the fighting, have been living in their homes with dwindling food and water and frequent power cuts.
The UN and other aid agencies have halted services, though the World Food Program said on Monday it was resuming operations in safer areas after personnel died early in the war.
“These operations are expected to expand to El-Gadarif, Gezira, Kassala and the Blue Nile in the coming days,” said Al Jazeera’s Biesan Abu-Kwaik from UN headquarters.
United Nations Deputy Chief Martin Griffiths warned that the country was at a “breaking point” and that the international organization fears the consequences of the war for both Sudan and the wider region.
“The magnitude and speed of what is happening in Sudan is unprecedented,” he said. Griffiths will visit Sudan on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera’s Fadel Abdelrazzaq, reporting from Adré on the Chadian-Sudanese border, said between 10,000 and 20,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Chad since the start of the conflict, according to Chadian authorities and UNHCR.
Reporting from near Djibouti airport, Jame’ Noor said evacuation operations were underway. “Many Canadian nationals have passed by in recent days. Most of the evacuees were Sudanese with dual nationality. They flew from Djibouti to Kenya and then to Canada,” he said.
The Ethiopian authorities have officially announced the arrival of 6,000 people of 46 nationalities through the border between Gallabat and Metemma.
Intensify attacks
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said airstrikes hit the northern and eastern parts of the capital Khartoum on Monday despite numerous ceasefire attempts.
“In the wee hours of the afternoon, around 12 local time [10 GMT]airstrikes were launched by the Sudanese military around what residents say are RSF positions, including a fuel tanker,” Morgan said.
Heavy artillery was deployed near the presidential palace, which is under RSF control.
“The Sudanese army wants to regain control of the palace because it is near the general command of the army headquarters,” said the correspondent.
Morgan added that the fighting had caused a fire to break out in one of the buildings near the palace.
Al Jazeera’s Haitham Uweit said the fighting also spread to new areas, including Al-Jerif East in the eastern part of the Blue Nile east of Khartoum.
“The most violent clashes were in Khartoum Bahri, particularly in Al-Halfaya, Shambat, North Kafouri and the industrial area,” he said.
Uweit added that according to UN envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes, the two warring sides have agreed to send representatives for UN negotiations.
“No definitive information is available on when and where the negotiations will take place,” Uweit said.
According to the Sudan Doctors Syndicate, 436 civilians have been killed and 2,175 injured so far.