Dina Mahmoud (Khartoum, London)
Relief organizations have warned that the ongoing crisis in Sudan threatens to spread epidemics and malnutrition among children in camps for the displaced.
Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons have taken refuge in areas that have remained untouched by the fighting, but suffer, like others, from the difficulty of providing basic services.
Yesterday, international relief organizations warned that White Nile State, about 350 km south of Khartoum, is receiving increasing numbers of displaced people.
Relief organizations said: “9 camps host hundreds of thousands of people, mostly women and children,” warning that the situation is critical in light of suspected cases of measles and malnutrition in children.
She added, “Between June 6 and 27, we treated 223 children suspected of having measles, and 72 children were admitted and 13 died in two clinics we support.”
Humanitarian organizations repeatedly stress the importance of allocating safe passages for the passage of aid, especially with the onset of the rainy season, which extends between June and September, and causes floods that claim victims and impede movement on the roads.
More than 600,000 displaced people have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to data from the International Organization for Migration, especially to Egypt in the north and Chad in the west.
Since the outbreak of the crisis, the Darfur region has witnessed some of the worst acts of violence and widespread looting, according to humanitarian organizations and witnesses.
The Sudanese flocking to Chad found a new ordeal awaiting them, after they crossed the border in huge numbers.
The eastern regions of Chad, in which a large number of Sudanese refugees are currently taking refuge, are among the most severe provinces of this country, suffering from a lack of basic services, on top of which are health, education, housing and clean drinking water, which means that more people fleeing the battles will flow to them. It will put additional pressure on the scarce resources there. In addition to the already deteriorating living conditions in those provinces, the complete cessation of trade with Sudan due to the ongoing confrontations since mid-April has led to a significant jump in the prices of foodstuffs and vital commodities, which increases the burdens on the shoulders of the population and refugees alike.
According to independent estimates, more than 140,000 Sudanese refugees, more than 90% of whom are women and children, have crossed the border into Chad since the 23rd of this June, amid expectations of an influx of thousands more over the next few weeks, amid escalating violence and bloody confrontations. in the Darfur region, western Sudan.
Humanitarian organizations say that among these refugees, more than 100,000 children, who moved with their families to life on the Chadian side of the border, in search of lost safety in their homeland, following the intensification of the Darfur battles, which left a large number of civilians dead and wounded, and witnessed operations Looting and looting, and setting fire to a number of villages and towns.
UNICEF officials concerned with protecting children in the world warn that the continued flow of Sudanese refugees at the current rate into Chad will “break the fragile bond existing across the border” between the two countries.
The expected rains will make the refugee journey more complicated, and will impede the arrival of relief supplies to some areas of Chad, which the Sudanese are currently seeking refuge in, if it causes floods that would almost completely isolate the refugees and their host communities from the world. external.
For his part, Jacques Boyer, UNICEF representative in N’Djamena, confirmed that the resources used by this UN agency to extend a helping hand to Sudanese families and their children are “running out”, saying that the flow of these refugees to their country’s western neighbor is escalating at a rapid pace, which constitutes A serious crisis in Chad itself.
Boyer stressed, in statements published by the British “Politex” website, that “UNICEF” needs to obtain more aid quickly, in order to “limit the consequences of the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding before our eyes,” after it has only been able to collect 10% of the aid so far. Only from the budget, which I set aside to deal with the current crisis.
Violent clashes in Khartoum
Yesterday, violent clashes renewed between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in the three cities of Khartoum, and gunfire was heard in the northwest and center of Omdurman, according to eyewitnesses. According to eyewitnesses in Khartoum, the areas of the “popular market” and “Al-Arda Street” and the industrial zone in Omdurman witnessed heavy shelling since the early hours of dawn, with the sound of violent explosions being heard in the area.
Clashes and strong artillery shelling also witnessed several areas in the neighboring city of Khartoum North, the Sports City, and Al-Shajara neighborhood in Khartoum, as clouds of smoke rose near Al-Shajara and Yarmouk warehouses and the headquarters of the Central Reserve Forces, south of Khartoum. The fighting escalated in the country at a time when Malek Agar, the deputy head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, said that his country’s delegation visiting Moscow requested, during Thursday’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s help in ending the crisis in Sudan. The Russian agency, “Sputnik”, quoted Agar as saying: “We explained to Lavrov the background of the problem in Sudan, and we discussed issues related to bilateral relations away from the conflict, and we found a response.” The crisis in Sudan has killed about 2,800 people and displaced more than 2.8 million people.
The battles are concentrated in the capital and areas close to it, in addition to the Darfur region, where the United Nations warned that what it is witnessing may amount to “crimes against humanity” and take on ethnic dimensions.
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