According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan have fled the previously safe province of Jazeera. Now the army and the paramilitary force RSF are fighting there too.
Fighting between the Sudanese military and the RSF paramilitary force has escalated. The province of Jazeera was previously considered safe, but now there is fighting there too. Hundreds of thousands of people have already fled the area as a result. This was announced by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the city of Wad Medani, the capital of Jazeera province, this month. This week the RSF declared they had taken the city. It is located about 100 kilometers southeast of Khartoum.
Many flee on foot to safer areas
The army confirmed the withdrawal and opened an investigation. According to the UN organization IOM, up to 300,000 people have fled the province – many of them on foot. They retreated to safer areas in Al-Kadarif, Sinnar and White Nile provinces. Some ended up in refugee camps, but many of those affected also found shelter in local communities.
“We fear that Wad Madani, once considered a safe haven for people fleeing extreme violence in Khartoum, is turning into another death trap,” said Pierre Dorbes, head of the delegation of the International Red Cross Committee ( ICRC) in Sudan. Families would be torn apart in the chaos of renewed flight, and older people would be left behind. The ICRC called on the parties to the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians and safe corridors to leave the city.
Food aid discontinued in parts
Jazeera is considered Sudan’s granary. Since the conflict began, around six million Sudanese have fled to the province, mostly from the capital Khartoum, where the fighting has been concentrated, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In total, around 45 million people live in Sudan.
The World Food Program (WFP) announced on Wednesday that it had temporarily suspended food aid in parts of Jazeera. The UN organization spoke of a serious setback for humanitarian efforts in the province. Support had previously been provided to 800,000 people in Jazeera, including many families who had fled the fighting in Khartoum.
Tensions have long simmered between the military, led by head of state Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF under the command of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. These escalated in April and led to an armed conflict. Many Western nations then flew foreigners out of Sudan.
The army and RSF joined forces in 2021 to take control of the country through a coup, but then became increasingly entangled in a power struggle.