More than 100,000 have fled Sudan since start of fighting, UN says

Some 330,000 Sudanese citizens have also been displaced inside the country’s borders

Civilians arrive at Port Sudan as they seek to escape the fighting (Smowal Abdalla/AP)

Conflict has forced 100,000 people to flee Sudan as fighting creates a humanitarian crisis, UN officials said on Tuesday as gunfire and explosions echoed across the capital despite another ceasefire deal.

The three-week clash risks morphing into a broader disaster as Sudan’s impoverished neighbours deal with a refugee crunch and the fighting hampers aid deliveries in a nation where two-thirds of people already rely on some outside assistance.

UN refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado told reporters in Geneva that the 100,000 total included people from Sudan, citizens from South Sudan returning home, and people who were already refugees within Sudan fleeing the fighting. Refugees have also been fleeing over Sudan's border with Egypt in the north and Chad in the west.

Some 330,000 Sudanese citizens have also been displaced inside the country’s borders by the war, the UN said.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday it was resuming work in the safer parts of the country after a pause earlier in the conflict in which some WFP staff were killed. “The risk is that this is not just going to be a Sudan crisis, it’s going to be a regional crisis,” said Michael Dunford, the WFP’s east Africa director.

Commanders of the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who previously shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government show no sign of backing down, yet neither seem able to secure a quick victory. That has raised the spectre of a prolonged conflict that could draw in outside powers.

Hundreds have died in the fighting that pits the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Each has blamed the other for the violation of a series of ceasefires.

Another truce – for seven days, starting on Thursday – has been agreed in principle and both sides will nominate representatives for peace talks, South Sudan’s foreign ministry said late on Tuesday, though it was unclear if it was any more likely to hold than previous efforts.

Port Sudan, where thousands of people have fled Khartoum seeking evacuation abroad, is the main entry point for aid for many countries in the region, the WFP’s Mr Dunford told Reuters. “Unless we stop the fighting, unless we stop now, the impact on a humanitarian scale is going to be massive,” he said.

Kenya has offered the use of its airports and airstrips near the border with South Sudan as part of an international humanitarian effort, Kenyan foreign minister Alfred Mutua said.

Aid supplies that have arrived in Port Sudan for other aid agencies were still awaiting safe passage to Khartoum, a road journey of about 500 miles (800 km), although Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had delivered some aid to Khartoum.

At the border with Egypt, where more than 40,000 people have crossed over the past two weeks, delays are causing refugees to wait for days before being let through after paying hundreds of dollars to make the journey north from Khartoum.

The UN warned on Monday that 800,000 people could eventually leave including refugees living in Sudan temporarily.

Foreign countries have carried out their own evacuation effort, with an airlift from outside the capital and long road convoys to Port Sudan where ships have ferried them abroad.

Most European countries have ended their evacuation efforts. Russia said on Tuesday that it had pulled out 200 of its citizens.

The army and RSF had shared power since a 2021 coup but had fallen out over the timeline for a transition to civilian rule and moves to merge the RSF into the regular military.

The two had fought side by side to battle an uprising in Darfur from 2003 onwards in which more than 300,000 people died, raising accusations of genocide.

Reuters