Sudan: 4,000 Dead And 4 million Moved Since Start Of Conflict

Clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) continue in Sudan, causing destruction in the capital Khartoum and unleashing ethnically motivated attacks in Darfur. It all started on April 15, when two generals, Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan, the country’s president and head of the Armed Forces, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF, came into conflict.

Since the conflict began, an estimated 4,000 people have died and 4 million have been moved. This data was provided by Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who spoke about the unprecedented violence that has swept through homes, schools, hospitals, and other essential services.

It is difficult to establish the exact number of victims, but “preliminary figures show that more than 4,000 people have been killed to date, including hundreds of civilians; 28 humanitarian and medical workers and 435 children among them. The real number of victims is believed to be much higher,” Türk explained. The number of refugees is also huge: more than a million Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries.

Domestically, food supplies are at a minimum; people are also dying from lack of medical care: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% of hospitals do not function, and outbreaks of cholera and measles have been reported in the areas that are most inaccessible due to ongoing clashes.

The situation is exacerbated by constant power outages and heavy seasonal rains that not only damaged the homes of more than 13,500 people, but also increase the likelihood of the diseases getting spread. In this apocalyptic situation, it is also difficult for humanitarian organizations to provide assistance due to incessant looting and constant instability.