More than 800,000 may flee fighting in Sudan, says UNHCR

May 1, 2023 (GENEVA) – Over 800,000 people may flee Sudan due to the ongoing fighting between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said Monday.

Those fleeing the current conflict, the agency said, include Sudanese nationals and thousands of existing refugees living temporarily in Sudan.

“In consultation with all concerned governments and partners, we’ve arrived at a planning figure of 815,000 people that may flee into the seven neighbouring countries,” Raouf Mazou, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for refugees, told a member-state briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.

73,000, he added, have already left Sudan.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed and thousands wounded in the clashes between Sudan’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary RSF.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi also said the planning figure was indicative.

“UNHCR, with governments and partners, is preparing for the possibility that over 800,000 people may flee the fighting in Sudan for neighbouring countries,” Grandi said in a tweet.

“We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if violence doesn’t stop we will see more people forced to flee Sudan seeking safe,” he added.

The international body has said a catastrophic humanitarian situation has already been unfolding since the fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15.

According to UNHCR, Sudan hosted 1.13 million refugees before the conflict started, including some 800,000 from South Sudan.

(ST)