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Download Report (PDF | 176.99 KB) HIGHLIGHTS
• Despite repeated extensions of the ceasefire, hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have lasted for 18 consecutive days.
• At least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 injured since the conflict began, with many more thought to have died due to the disruption of critical services, including health care.
• About 334,000 people are estimated to have been internally displaced, and over 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries.
• In Khartoum, several neighbourhoods continue to face severe water shortages due to blackouts, lack of fuel and damage to water supplies.
• The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, is visiting the region to explore how to bring immediate relief to the millions of people whose lives have been turned upside down by the conflict.
• Despite constraints, including challenging access and continuous fighting, humanitarian partners are working to increase their response to the rapidly rising needs.
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Despite repeated announcements of the extension of the ceasefire, hostilities between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued on 2 May for an 18th consecutive day, especially in Khartoum. The fighting has left at least 528 people dead and 4,599 injured, as of 27 April, according to the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH). In West Darfur, the hostilities between the RSF and SAF have triggered intercommunal violence, and clashes in Ag Geneina have killed an estimated 96 people since 24 April, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The conflict has been concentrated in densely-populated urban centres, with two-thirds of the fighting between SAF and RSF during the first week of the fighting taking place in cities of over 100,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). Electricity, water and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as businesses and homes, have been damaged, looted or destroyed. In some areas, the price of basic commodities—such as bottled water, food staples, and fuel for cooking and cars—has risen by 40 to 60 per cent, according to UNICEF.
Access to water remains one of the main challenges. In Khartoum, several neighbourhoods face severe water shortages due to blackouts, lack of fuel and damage to water supplies. In Eltahir, the water quality treatment unit and drilling rig and other equipment have been destroyed, according to UNICEF. In Al Fasher, access to water was interrupted due to an electrical outage. Limited access to water in camps for internally displaced people was also reported due to lack of fuel.
Across Sudan, more than two-thirds of hospitals are not functional due to direct attacks, occupation by fighting parties, access, lack of electricity, water supply or fuel, or stock out of medicine, according to WHO. Cold chain equipment, vehicles, records and assets have been either looted or destroyed and it is estimated half of the vaccines have been lost. Medical stockpiles are running critically low in conflict affected areas, with shortage of all medical and surgical supplies, including oxygen and blood bags, according to the Sudan Doctors Trade Union. An increasing number of children and parents need mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Meanwhile, 80 metric tonnes (MT) of emergency medical supplies, including 59MT of IV fluids, 8MT trauma kits and around 12MT of kits for treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM), are in Port Sudan awaiting customs clearance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and a further 30MT of medical supplies—including trauma kits, inter-agency health kits, gloves and other supplies—are ready for shipment from WHO’s Logistics Hub in Dubai.
At least 334,000 people have reportedly been displaced inside Sudan since 15 April, according to estimates by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). Of these, 72 per cent are in South and West Darfur states. In West Darfur, most of the residents of Ag Geneina town have left due to the fighting that erupted on 24 April. Although figures are not confirmed, about 195,000 people are estimated to be displaced in the state.
Aj Jazirah State hosts about 8,000 people who have mainly fled from Khartoum. Priority needs include food, access to water, and household non-food items (NFIs), including mattresses, blankets, cooking fuel as well as hygiene supplies, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)’s preliminary assessment findings.
In White Nile, a state of emergency was declared on 26 April. Local authorities are concerned about the situation in Rabak, the capital of the state, and Kosti following an influx in South Sudanese refugees from Khartoum to the state, according to UNHCR. An estimated 55,000 South Sudanese who were living in Sudan when the conflict began have headed to the camps in Rabak and Kosti in White Nile State, according to UNHCR.
Meanwhile, the number of people fleeing Sudan continues to rise. Over 100,000 people, including refugees, returnees and third country nationals, have crossed into neighbouring countries since 15 April, according to UNHCR. The most significant cross-border movements so far have been Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad and Egypt, and South Sudanese returning to South Sudan. In Egypt, more than 40,000 Sudanese people and 2,300 foreign nationals have accessed the Sudan-Egypt border as of 1 May, through two border points: Qastal and Arqeen, according to the Government. In Chad, more than 21,000 refugees, out of an estimated 30,000 new arrivals, have so far been verified, physically counted and identified. However, some new arrivals are still staying out in the open or under trees, while others are sleeping in makeshift shelters close to the border. More than 27,000 people have arrived to South Sudan, 89 per cent of them are South Sudanese returnees, as of 1 May, according to IOM and UNHCR. In the Central African Republic (CAR), about 6,000 people, including 400 Central African returnees, have reportedly preventively crossed the border from Sudan and are living in host families and spontaneous settlements in Am-Dafock, as of 29 April. Prior to this crisis, the northern region of CAR was already experiencing acute food insecurity and, with traffic between Sudan and CAR severely disrupted due to insecurity along the border, there has been a sharp increase in the price of basic commodities.
Disclaimer
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.
