Thousands of people have fled a town in southern Sudan following intense clashes between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary forces, the United Nations’ migration agency reported on Sunday.
The conflict, which began in mid-April 2023, pits the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, a former deputy of al-Burhan.
According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), “between 1,000 and 3,000 households were displaced from the town of Um Rawaba in North Kordofan state” within just five days.
Violence erupted in the area last week as the army launched an offensive toward the central Sudanese state of Al-Jazira, situated roughly 300 kilometres (186 miles) northeast. Families have fled due to escalating security concerns fueled by ongoing clashes throughout the locality, the IOM explained.
North Kordofan alone is grappling with over 205,000 displaced individuals, based on the latest UN data from Wednesday. Nationwide, the number of internally displaced people has soared to 11.5 million, including 2.7 million uprooted by earlier conflicts. The UN has labelled this the world’s largest displacement crisis.
The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and plunged Sudan to the edge of famine. A recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review revealed that famine has already gripped five regions in western and southern Sudan and is poised to spread to five additional areas.
In North Kordofan, approximately 350,000 people are enduring emergency levels of hunger, the IPC noted—just one step short of famine. The report stressed that only a ceasefire could halt the famine’s advance, with 24.6 million Sudanese—nearly half the population—currently facing acute food insecurity.
