More than 800,000 people could leave Sudan as a result of the armed conflict raging in the country in recent weeks, a UN spokesman said today, adding that this number includes many who have already arrived in Sudan as refugees from other countries.

“If there is no quick resolution to this crisis, we will continue to see more people flee in search of safety and assistance,” Raouf Mazou said at a briefing by representatives of UN member states at UN headquarters in Geneva.

Sudan plunged into chaos in the middle of the month as a power struggle broke out between the head of the military junta, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the deputy commander of the military regime, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, or “Hameti”. Led by the dreaded Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned into open warfare. Fighting that claimed hundreds of lives broke out on April 15 between the two generals who ruled the country since the 2021 coup, leaving millions of Sudanese trapped.

“During the consultations that we have had with all the governments and partners involved, we have come to an estimate that about 815,000 people can find refuge in seven neighboring countries” (Sudan), the UN representative added.

Mazou said the estimate includes about 580,000 Sudanese, as well as refugees from South Sudan and other countries who have taken refuge in Sudan.

In addition, he said that so far almost 73,000 people have already taken refuge in the following countries: South Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

At the same briefing for representatives of UN member states, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan warned that the humanitarian crisis was turning into a “general catastrophe”, noting that the risk of spreading to neighboring countries was a concern.

“For more than two weeks, devastating fighting has been going on in Sudan, a conflict that is turning the humanitarian crisis in Sudan into a wide-ranging disaster,” Abdu Dieng, the country’s humanitarian aid coordinator, said via video link.

Airstrikes, gunfire and explosions rocked Khartoum once again today, despite the announcement of a ceasefire in fighting between the army and paramilitaries that, according to the UN, has plunged Sudan into a humanitarian situation approaching “collapse”.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP, Reuters.