United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Spokesperson William Spindler made evaluations about the civil war that has been going on since April 15 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (HDK), which the government declared insurgents, at the weekly press conference of the UN Geneva Office.
“Since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, 4.3 million people have been forcibly displaced. This number includes more than 900,000 refugees and asylum seekers who went to neighboring countries and 195,000 South Sudanese who had to return to South Sudan. Since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan,” Spindler said. Since then, more than 3.2 million people have been internally displaced.” said.
Pointing out that the crowd in Sudan and neighboring countries will increase if Sudanese people continue to flee from where they are, Spindler stated that they continue their life-saving support wherever they can reach.
53 attacks on health centers
World Health Organization (WHO) Spokesperson Margaret Harris pointed out that the conflicts in Sudan have devastating effects on people’s lives and health.
“About 67 percent of hospitals in the areas most affected by the conflict were out of service. WHO confirmed 53 attacks on health centers in these 4 months of conflict. These attacks resulted in 11 deaths, 38 injuries and tens of thousands of people being denied access to healthcare,” Harris said. he said.
Emphasizing that the ongoing epidemics such as measles, malaria and dengue fever in Sudan are difficult to control due to the deteriorating health system, Harris noted that more than 40 percent of the country is facing hunger.
Clashes between the army and the HDK in Sudan
The Sudanese army wanted the full integration of the HDK into the army within 2 years, which it once supported but saw as a threat because it acted as an independent and parallel army.
The war of words and tension, which started with the HDK’s declaration that it could accept this in a period spanning about 10 years after the civilian government, turned into an armed conflict between the parties, in the capital Khartoum and various cities, on the morning of April 15.
More than 3,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed and tens of thousands were injured in the ongoing violent clashes with Khartoum and its environs, especially in the western cities.