Nearly 200,000 people have fled Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict in mid-April, in addition to the displacement of hundreds of thousands inside the country, the United Nations announced Friday.

Edited by |ANNA SAM

POLITICS NEW SECTION - SUDAN CONFLICT

13 MAY 2023

    For its part, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that a factory in Khartoum that produced a large portion of foodstuffs for Sudanese children suffering from the most severe forms of malnutrition burned down, which led to the destruction of all machinery and the complete halt of production.

"The fire destroyed 14,500 boxes of ready-to-use therapeutic food," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told a news conference in Geneva.

The fighting in Sudan has killed more than 750 people and wounded 5,000 others.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed that nearly 200,000 people have fled Sudan.

The United Nations Migration Agency said earlier this week that more than 700,000 people have been displaced within Sudan following the outbreak of fighting on April 15.

"An additional 30,000 refugees have arrived in recent days" in neighboring Chad, UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado told reporters in Geneva, bringing the total number of those who arrived from Sudan in recent weeks to 60,000.

"Ninety percent of the refugees (in Chad) are children and women, many of whom are pregnant," she added.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 20 percent of children between the ages of six months and five years suffer from acute malnutrition.

Speaking of those fleeing Sudan, Sarado warned that "the humanitarian response is difficult and costly," noting that "refugees and returnees are arriving in remote border areas where services and infrastructure are scarce or unavailable, and the host population is suffering under the weight of climate change and food scarcity."

"The upcoming rainy season will make logistical matters more difficult when many roads will become impassable," she said.

On the other hand, Sarado said that the Commission welcomes the signing by the warring military parties in Sudan on Thursday evening of a declaration pledging to respect the rules that allow the provision of humanitarian aid.

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