According to new research, the death toll from Sudan’s civil war is far higher than previously thought.The conflict has created the world’s worst hunger crisis and forced 11 million people to flee their homes.
Nicholas Hayso, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, greets Michael Kapkiai Kiboino, Deputy Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations, during the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Sudan and South Sudan.
With little help from the international community, those in need are being fed by community-funded soup kitchens in war-torn Omdurman, the most populated city in Sudan. As one part of Sudan faces famine for the first time in seven years, the United States and other countries have urged the warring sides to grant humanitarian organizations unfettered access.
Many of the 11 million displaced people living in Port Sudan, which has been spared from the violence in the country’s civil conflict, are using churches as makeshift shelters.
Fighting in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and its troublesome Darfur region have received much of attention; however, the Kordofan region, on the border with South Sudan, is also seeing intense clashes. As the number of conflict-related deaths rises, thousands more locals have fled to South Sudan.
Since the military and paramilitary forces of Sudan started fighting on April 15, the United Nations says that 19,000 refugees and asylum seekers have fled to South Sudan. By the end of the year, those numbers are expected to more than quadruple.
Millions of Sudanese have fled from Khartoum, the country’s capital, to the city of Atbara after fighting broke out between rival generals on April 15.
According to the U.N., 2.5 million people have already been forced from their homes by the war in Sudan, with about 80% of those people being internally displaced.
According to the UN, conflict and unrest in Sudan’s western Darfur region have sparked sexual abuse against women. Many people who fled the area to the neighboring country of Chad say that law and order have completely broken down, allowing for an increase in attacks on women.
According to Moody’s and the International Monetary Fund, if the conflict in Sudan continues, it will harm the economies of its neighbors. Trading and customers in N’djamena, the capital of Chad, have already felt a pinch of high inflation as the war’s economic effects put their love of hot, sweet tea in jeopardy.