War in Sudan forces 136,000 refugees to flee, says UN

More than 136,000 people have fled Sudan’s southeastern Sennar state since Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries launched a series of attacks on towns in the region, the UN said on Wednesday (3), in the latest wave of displacement caused by Sudan’s nearly 15-month war.

They join nearly 10 million people driven from their homes since the start of the war between the FAP and the regular army. The war has sparked accusations of “ethnic cleansing” and warnings of famine, particularly in FAP-controlled areas across the country.

The PAF began a campaign on June 24 to take the city of Sennar, a commercial hub, but quickly turned to the smaller towns of Sinjah and al-Dinder, triggering an exodus of civilians from all three, mainly to neighboring al-Gedaref and Blue.

Images on social media showed people of all ages crossing the Nile River to escape the conflict.

Activists in both states say there is little shelter or food aid for the new arrivals. In Gedaref, they braved heavy rains while trapped in the state capital’s main market without tents or blankets after schools that served as displacement centers were emptied by the government, the local resistance committee said.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement that since June 24, an estimated 136,130 people have been displaced in Sennar.

The state was already home to more than 285,000 people displaced from Khartoum and al-Gezira states, meaning many of those who left in the past two weeks were likely to be displaced for a second or third time. He also said villages in Gedaref state, one of several possible targets for the PAF campaign, had also seen an exodus.

In the west of the country, local activists said at least 12 people were killed at a cattle market on Wednesday (3) in the town of al-Fashir, which has seen a months-long struggle for control and an exodus to nearby towns and camps.