KHARTOUM, Sudan/ ISTANBUL 

More than 4,000 civilians have fled South and North Kordofan states in southern Sudan over the past three days due to escalating insecurity, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday.

In a statement, the UN agency reported the displacement of between 1,500 and 2,500 people from Al-Kuweik in South Kordofan, in addition to 375 people from Kadugli and 495 others from Dilling in the same state, between Dec. 27 and 29.

The IOM said the displaced people moved to various locations in North Kordofan, South Kordofan and White Nile states.

In North Kordofan, the organization recorded the displacement of 1,020 people from the villages of Um Taghirat and Al-Markha in Jebrat Al-Sheikh locality due to deteriorating security conditions, noting that they fled to Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum.

On Sunday, the IOM announced the displacement of 1,290 people from the two states for the same reasons.

The three Kordofan states – North, West, and South – have seen weeks of fierce fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (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.