Around 1,200 children have died in refugee camps in Sudan since mid-May. The United Nations reports that the reasons were malnutrition and measles. The fighting has now spread to the port city of Port Sudan.
According to the UN, more than 1,200 children have died in refugee camps in the crisis country Sudan since mid-May. The children in nine camps in the northeast African country were victims of malnutrition and measles infections, said the UN children’s agency UNICEF in Geneva.
Because of the “incessant attacks” on health facilities and the poor nutritional situation in Sudan, it is feared that “several thousand newborns will die by the end of the year.”
Expansion of fighting to Port Sudan
There are also reports that the fighting, which has been ongoing since April, has spread to the port city of Port Sudan for the first time. The strategically important port city on the Red Sea was previously considered relatively safe and is home to the country’s only functioning airport.
Sudanese soldiers are now fighting there with members of a militia that calls itself the “Forces of the Eastern Sudan Parties and Movements Alliance,” the BBC reported. According to Sudanese broadcaster Radio Tamazuj, soldiers had advanced into the city to take over checkpoints set up by the militia.
Due to the ongoing fighting in large parts of the country, numerous organizations, the United Nations and government representatives had moved to Port Sudan. In the past three weeks, the city has also served as a new base for the commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Power struggle between army chief and paramilitary Commander
The background to the violence in the northeast African country is a power struggle between army chief General Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary “Rapid Support Forces”, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. In a speech published on social networks on September 14th, he described the development of Port Sudan as the new center of the SAF as a “threat” and announced: “If we want, we can be in Port Sudan today.”
Thousands of people died
Thousands of people have died since fighting broke out in April between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has already destroyed large parts of Sudan’s already fragile infrastructure. 80 percent of the country’s hospitals closed and millions of people are suffering from hunger.
According to the UN, more than five million residents have been displaced. In the densely populated capital Khartoum alone, 2.8 million people fled the ongoing air strikes, artillery battles and street fighting. International efforts to reach a ceasefire have so far been unsuccessful.