More than 800,000 could flee Sudan amid fighting, UN warns

The United Nations is warning that more than 800,000 people could flee Sudan to neighboring countries amid the ongoing conflict between rival military factions.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office, along with other governments and partners, is “preparing for the possibility that over 800,000 people may flee the fighting in Sudan for neighboring countries,” tweeted UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.  

“We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if violence doesn’t stop we will see more people forced to flee Sudan seeking safety,” Grandi said.

In Sudan, two former allies are battling for power in a conflict that’s killed more than 400 civilians since fighting began last month in Khartoum, according to Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate.

Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of Sudan’s armed forces is clashing with Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and his paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.

The two forces extended a humanitarian cease-fire on Sunday, but the move has not appeared to quell the conflict.

The fighting has prompted many to flee the conflict. More than 100 American citizens on Monday reached Saudi Arabia from Sudan, making up about 1,000 citizens that the U.S. government has been able to evacuate from Sudan since the fighting started. 

On April 28, the UNHCR estimated that more than 50,000 people had already fled Sudan to Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, including both Sudanese citizens and refugees forced to return to their countries.

“Sudan hosts over one million refugees from the region. Like all civilians, they are impacted by violence and cut off from humanitarian aid. More than 3000 South Sudanese are now fleeing back daily to their fragile country,” Grandi tweeted.

“The scale & speed of what is unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented in the country,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday, upon dispatching the U.N.’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator to the region.

“I once again call for the protection of civilians & respect for humanitarians,” he added.