Over 300 more civilians flee Sudan’s South Kordofan as insecurity worsens: UN

KHARTOUM / ISTANBUL

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Thursday that 330 more Sudanese civilians have been displaced from the city of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, amid attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The UN agency said in a statement that the new displacement wave was reported since Tuesday, with the displaced civilians fleeing to various locations in the Ar-Rahad and Sheikan districts in North Kordofan due to worsening insecurity.

The organization warned that the situation remains highly tense and extremely volatile.

However, Sudanese authorities said that the situation in Kadugli remains calm.

Bashir Ahmed Omar, the executive director of Kadugli locality, told the state news agency SUNA that the armed forces and other security bodies are operating to maintain security and stability in the area.

He called on Kadugli residents to disregard what he called “rumors and misleading information that could undermine public reassurance.”

On Wednesday, the IOM reported the displacement of 985 people from South Kordofan within two days.

Kadugli has been suffering from a siege imposed by both the RSF and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) since the early months of the war, alongside repeated artillery and drone attacks.

There are no official statistics on the city’s population, but Kadugli has witnessed several waves of displacement to surrounding areas over time.

Last week, UNICEF representative in Sudan Sheldon Yett stated that famine has been confirmed in Kadugli.

According to UN estimates, more than 41,000 people fled escalating violence in North and South Kordofan during November.

The three Kordofan states – North, West, and South – have seen weeks of fierce fighting between the army and the RSF, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee.

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army, in turn, holds most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and center, including the capital, Khartoum.

The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.