Sudan War Leaves More Than 10 Million People Displaced by Famine

JAKARTA - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday that more than 10 million Sudanese, or about 20 percent of the population, have been displaced since the outbreak of the war there, as the world's largest displacement crisis continues to worsen.

The figures are the latest horrific figures from the east African country devastated by a conflict that began in April 2023.

Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted in the capital Khartoum last year quickly spread across Darfur and into the west, with the RSF taking over much of the center.

The war has left half the population of about 50 million facing a famine and in need of humanitarian assistance, the highest number of any country.

More than 2.2 million people have fled to other countries since the war began, while nearly 7.8 million have sought refuge inside the country, the IOM said in a bimonthly report. An additional 2.8 million people have been displaced by previous conflicts in the country.

UN experts say hunger has replaced violence as the biggest driver of migration from Darfur, where aid is struggling to reach people.

"All the refugees I met said the reason they fled Sudan was hunger," World Health Organization (WHO) Country Director Dr. Shible Sahbani told reporters after visiting Darfur refugees in Chad, Reuters reported on July 16.

"One woman who had just arrived in Adré reported that all the food they used to grow locally in Darfur had been taken by the fighters," he added.

As RSF expanded its reach in the southeast of the country in recent weeks, more than 150,000 people have fled Sennar state, the IOM said, many for the second or third time after RSF raids on markets and homes in small towns and villages in the state.

RSF itself denies harming civilians and attributes the activity to evil actors.

Many of the displaced are now in Gedaref State, which is home to 668,000 people facing heavy rains with limited shelter, and where RSF units have carried out raids.

Last week, Human Rights Watch last week warned of the dangers of the RSF's expansion into Gedaref for 40,000 Ethiopian refugees, mostly Tigrayans, whom the RSF accuses of fighting alongside the army.