The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday, warned that more than 800,000 people including Sudanese citizens and thousands of existing refugees living temporarily in the country may flee Sudan as a result of the ongoing conflict, reported Aljazeera.
“In consultation with all concerned governments and partners, we’ve arrived at a planning figure of 815,000 people that may flee into the seven neighboring countries,” Raouf Mazou, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for refugees, said during a briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mazou estimates that the number includes 580,000 Sudanese nationals and the remaining others who are refugees who had settled in the country for safety. He said that some 73,000 people have already left the conflict-hit country.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi later said he hopes the number doesn’t come to that, but he warned that if violence doesn’t stop there will be more and more people who will be forced to flee Sudan seeking safety.
The UNHCR has said a catastrophic humanitarian situation has already been unfolding since the fighting between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on April 15.
At least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 have been wounded in the fighting so far.
While both sides agreed on Sunday to extend a much-violated truce by 72 hours, air strikes and shelling continue in Khartoum and neighboring cities.
The UN and other aid organizations have ceased services in the country, though the World Food Programme said it was resuming operations in more secure areas on Monday after its staff were killed early in the fighting.
On Monday, WFP executive director Cindy McCain wrote on Twitter that the UN food organization is rapidly resuming its programs to provide life-saving assistance to those who desperately need it right now.
