Thousands flee southern Sudan town amid escalating clashes: UN

By AFP
January 13, 2025
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023.— Reuters
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023.— Reuters

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Thousands have fled a town in southern Sudan since clashes erupted last week between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitaries, the United Nations´ migration agency said on Sunday.

The conflict in Sudan, which erupted in mid-April 2023, has pitted the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“Between 1,000 and 3,000 households were displaced from Um Rawaba town” in North Kordofan state in the country´s south in just five days, the UN´s International Organization for Migration said.

Clashes broke out in the area last week between the army and the RSF, at the same time that the military led an advance on the central Sudan state of Al-Jazira, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) northeast.

Families fled “due to increased security concerns following continued clashes across the locality”, the IOM said.

In North Kordofan, over 205,000 people are currently displaced, according to the latest UN figures released on Wednesday.