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.
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.
The once-thriving market in Omdurman, the second-most populous city in Sudan, has been almost destroyed by the nearly 18 months of fighting. As fighting raged in the capital, Khartoum, on the other side of the Nile,VOA gained rare access to the city and met residents.Henry Wilkins reports.
Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, briefs the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Sudan and South Sudan.
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.