Over 200,000 Displaced in Sudan's Kordofan as Fighting Escalates
Theo Al Jazeera
Over 200,000 people have been displaced in Sudan's Kordofan region due to escalating fighting, with drone attacks on infrastructure and seasonal floods worsening the crisis. The UN's IOM warns of a new wave of displacement, as El Obeid faces power and water outages.
More than 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Sudan's Kordofan region due to intensified fighting since late last year, according to a warning from the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM). Drone attacks continue to target water and electricity infrastructure in El Obeid, the region's largest city.
The warning came on Wednesday as seasonal floods in neighboring North Darfur state also exacerbated the displacement crisis.
"The warning signs are impossible to ignore," IOM Director General Amy Pope stressed. "Across Sudan, families are fleeing violence, losing access to clean water, electricity, and health services, and now they also bear the burden of devastating floods."
According to the IOM, the number of displaced people in Sheikan district, which includes El Obeid, has increased by 25 percent over the past eight months. In El Obeid, repeated fighting and drone attacks on the main substation have caused power outages, affecting water pumping, hospital operations, and telephone communications.
The IOM also reported that in Blue Nile state, about 78,000 people have been displaced, while in West Darfur, some 18,000 others were displaced in the first half of August. In North Darfur, heavy rains in the Tawila area damaged nearly 1,350 homes, displacing more than 1,000 families.
"Sudan is one of the largest displacement crises in the world," Pope said. "The combined impact of conflict, infrastructure damage, and floods is pushing thousands of families to the brink."
Since the war began in April 2023, an estimated 59,000 people have been killed, while 8.6 million have been internally displaced. More than 4.2 million people have also fled to neighboring countries. According to the UN, about 33.7 million people need humanitarian assistance.
Al Jazeera correspondent Almigdad Alruhaid reported from one of the main roads leading to El Obeid, describing a route where drones from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted military vehicles, fuel tankers, and cargo trucks. The city, controlled by the Sudanese army, has endured one of the longest sieges of the war, but the RSF "still maintains positions south and west of the city and continues to attack nearby villages," Alruhaid said, adding that this worsens the humanitarian situation in the area.
El Obeid had a pre-war population of 750,000, but officials now estimate it has grown to 3.4 million, according to Sudan Tribune. The humanitarian organization Save the Children said nearly 39,000 children arrived there in the first six months of this year.
