As warfare intensifies throughout the broad southern area, the United Nations announced on Tuesday that over 100,000 people had fled Sudan’s troubled Kordofan since October.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been engaged in a bloody conflict since April 2023.
Tens of thousands of people have died, over 11 million have been displaced, and the violence has led to what the UN calls one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in history.
According to data released Tuesday by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), an estimated 115,223 persons were forced to leave Kordofan between October 25 and February 5.
According to the UN agency, the increase came after over 80 violent incidents were reported in the states of North, South, and West Kordofan.
Following the RSF’s October capture of El-Fasher, the final stronghold of the Sudanese army in the neighboring Darfur region, the exodus from the southern region occurred.
At least 127,000 people had to escape after El-Fasher was taken, and there were tales of extensive looting, rape, mass murders, and kidnappings.
The UN has issued numerous warnings that Kordofan, which has now become a crucial theater of operations in the larger conflict, may see similar horrors.
In the two weeks preceding February 6, drone strikes in Kordofan killed around 100 civilians and injured 142 more, according to a statement released by UN human rights official Volker Turk on Monday.
The World Food Program convoy, markets, medical institutions, and residential areas throughout North and South Kordofan were among the targets of strikes by both warring parties, he claimed.
Due to its advantageous location between army-held Nile Valley to the east, north, and center and RSF-controlled Darfur to the west, Kordofan has become more vulnerable as both sides fight for control.
