The International Organization for Migration released data on Tuesday that showed more than 10 million people had been internally displaced within the war-torn country of Sudan.
According to the IOM, 7.26 million individuals have left their homes since the fight between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023. This number is on top of the 2.83 million people who had already been displaced by earlier conflicts.
Sudan is experiencing the biggest displacement crisis in history, the UN has warned, as the war shows no signs of ending and the threat of starvation looms large over the nation.
Now, more than two million of the 48 million people living in the nation have crossed foreign borders as a result of being compelled to leave their homes.
Over 3.7 million people, or more than one-third of all the displaced, have managed to flee Khartoum, the country’s destroyed capital that is now split between the opposing factions and a mere shadow of its former self.
Tens of thousands of people have died in the battle in just over a year, with up to 15,000 of them in a single town in West Darfur.
The number of deaths overall is still unknown, while some estimates put it as high as 150,000, according to US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello.
Aid organizations and academics have warned that as the humanitarian catastrophe intensifies, millions more people could perish.
The IOM has warned that 70 percent of the displaced people in Sudan “are now trying to survive in places that are at risk of famine”.
According to the UN, 3.6 million children in Sudan are severely malnourished, and 18 million adults suffer from acute hunger.
According to the IOM, children under the age of eighteen make up around 25% of Sudan’s displaced population, and children under the age of five make up about 55%.
The UN charges both parties of “systematic obstructions and deliberate denials” of humanitarian access, while aid organizations claim that a lack of data has prevented an official declaration of famine.
