Aug. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The collapse of a dam near Port Sudan due to flooding caused by heavy torrential rains that have hit the African country in the last month amid the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated around twenty towns, while dozens of people have died.
UN Secretary-General’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that 70 villages near the dam have also been affected, as well as 70 schools, while thousands of animals are missing. While local authorities have estimated the death toll at 30, humanitarian agencies fear the number is “much higher” taking into account the missing and displaced.
“Some residents of the village were forced to flee into the mountains for safety, while others were evacuated. Some 50,000 people living on the western side of the dam have seen their homes destroyed or damaged, and people are in urgent need of water, food, shelter and assistance,” he said, citing official figures.
Dujarric, who stressed that floods have caused havoc in many parts of the country since the rainy season began two months ago, recalled that there is an ongoing conflict that is also affecting the Sudanese population. He also indicated that on Monday 38 trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed the Adré Pass from Chad into Sudan, after convoys began to pass through last week following an agreement.
Hostilities broke out in April 2023 amid heightened tensions over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and revive the open transition following the 2019 overthrow of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, damaged by the coup d’état of October 2021, in which the unity prime minister, Abdallah Hamdok, was overthrown.
Add Comment