Sudan faces world’s largest internal displacement crisis, UN migration agency says

KHARTOUM, Sudan/ ISTANBUL

Sudan is facing the world’s largest displacement crisis amid over two years of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday.

“From mothers fleeing with newborns to students separated from their families, people face immense hardship,” the UN agency said on US social media company X.

It stressed that support provided by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) “helps IOM deliver critical protection and relief.”

The Central Emergency Response Fund is a global UN financing mechanism, along with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, aimed at providing rapid, life-saving humanitarian assistance in crises such as natural disasters and conflicts.

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.