44,700 villagers flee Jebel Marra clashes
February 7, 20016 (KHARTOUM) – Over 44 thousands villagers from the restive area of Jebel Marra in the center of Darfur region continue to flee the fighting between the Sudanese government troops and Sudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW).
Since last January, the government forces launched a large scale offensive on the SLM-AW fighters who are accused of robbery and attacks on civilian and commercial convoys in the area.
The Sudanese officials refused to stop its military operation saying the group is not part of the peace process.
“As of 31 January, it is estimated that 44,700 people have been displaced due to this conflict,” said the weekly bulletin of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Khartoum.
“These include an estimated 31,000 newly displaced people in North Darfur and another 13,700 in Central Darfur,” the UN body further said.
The report said there are no new IDPs in South and East Darfur. It added they arrived from the villages of Tui, Korambe, Samra, Burgukiry, Bersi, Sura, Birgel, Kaguro, Fatah and Niortolo.
Last week, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq disclosed that the number of Jebel Marra IDPs who sought refuge near the UNAMID site in Sortoni, North Darfur has increased to 21,328 from 14,770. This includes 13,269 children.
(ST)