The International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the Associated Press agency that this count includes around 2.8 million people expelled from their homes before the start of the current war, due to violence. several local conflicts in recent years.
More than two million other Sudanese were displaced abroad, mainly to neighboring Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, said IOM spokesperson Mohammedali Abunajela.
The conflict in Sudan began in April 2023, when growing tensions between military leaders and paramilitaries from the Rapid Support Force resulted in fighting in the capital Khartoum, which spread to other parts of the country.
At stake are strong disagreements over the integration process of the paramilitary group – now declared a terrorist organization – into the Armed Forces, which led to the failure of this transition that began in 2019, after the overthrow of the regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
According to the UN organization, the situation of more than 10 million displaced people – more than half of whom are women and more than a quarter children under the age of five – is already It is considered the worst internal displacement crisis in the world.
“Imagine a city the size of London being displaced. That’s what’s happening, but with the constant threat of crossfire, hunger, disease and brutal ethnic and gender-based violence” , warned the director general of the IOM, Amy Pope, in a statement.
The war in Sudan has already caused more than 30,000 deaths, according to data from the Sudanese Medical Union.
Both the Sudanese army and paramilitaries have been accused by several international organizations of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity – including the use of sexual violence and ethnic cleansing -, which led to sanctions actions by countries such as the United States against the belligerent parties.
