Speaking from Port Sudan to journalists in Geneva, he urged all Member States and “all those who can provide support” to the people of Sudan to ensure their protection.
Intense bombardment alert
Latest reports from the war-torn country indicate that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) together with their allies in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) bombed residential buildings in Dilling, South Kordofan, in the past 48 hours.
The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023 following a breakdown in the transition to civilian government. On October 26, the paramilitary force invaded El Fasher, the regional capital of North Darfur, after a 500-day siege, triggering new mass displacement. Deep concerns remain for those believed to still be trapped inside the city and had to eat peanut shells and animal feed to survive the ordeal.
‘People are afraid’
“These displacements from Kordofan do not happen sporadically, but they happen because people are afraid,” said Mr. Refaat of the IOM. He observed that people were fleeing from Babanusa, Kadugli and El-Obeid.
Highlighting deep concern for vulnerable people on the move, the veteran humanitarian official noted that “only women and children” are arriving in the White Nile and Gedaref to the east.
Deep insecurity and violence persist across Sudan, increasing protection risks for civilians and hampering safe humanitarian access.
There is growing concern over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, where six Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in drone strikes last Saturday. The UN peacekeepers were at a logistics base in the city, deployed with the UN force in Abyei, the disputed region on the border with South Sudan.
Hundreds of thousands at risk
“In the city of Kadugli, we estimate that there are around 90,000 to 100,000 people in this area who will be displaced if something happens if the fighting continues, if they have access to leave the city,” Refaat said. He added that El-Obeid – the capital of North Kordofan – appeared to be just “one or two steps away from being the next city under attack… we estimate that more than half a million will already be affected.”
Returning to the crisis in El Fasher, the IOM official noted that the UN agency’s displacement tracking matrix had recorded more than 109,000 people who had managed to flee the city and its surrounding villages since it fell to the RSF in late October.
“Many of them are still trapped in neighboring villages and cannot move further due to logistical (and) security issues,” he said, fueling concern among those trying to survive when the essentials for survival have been “completely destroyed,” UN aid teams warned a week ago.
When asked about the impact of severe funding cuts to aid work at the United Nations and beyond, the IOM chief of mission explained that the agency had lost resources worth $83 million this year alone. This has forced aid teams to reduce their footprint “enormously,” Refaat explained.
“Because of those cuts, we have to choose what lives we can save and what support we should stop. So we would cross places where we know people are absolutely in dire need, but we will leave them and we won’t be able to help them because we have to prioritize those who are absolutely dying.”