June 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Almost 2.5 million people have had to leave their homes since the outbreak two months ago of the conflict between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization, according to a new balance released by the UN, which has called for more funds to help people in need both inside and outside the borders of Sudan.
Specifically, the International Organization for Migration has registered more than 1.9 million internally displaced persons, to which should be added some 550,000 people who have fled to neighboring countries. Only this weekend, some 15,000 people have crossed into Chadian territory due to the persistent violence in Darfur, one of the main sources of tension in Sudan.
The director for the IOM region, Othman Belbeisi, warned on Monday that humanitarian needs have already reached “alarming” levels. Approximately half of the population, more than 24.7 million people, need assistance and Belbeisi has called on all parties to allow this aid to be distributed.
The UN foresees a general worsening of statistics, for example in the field of hunger. If already in 2002 there were 11.7 million people with a worrying situation of food insecurity, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) expects that 2023 will be an even more fateful year, since after the harvest period (October-February), the data stood at eight million, 30 percent more than a year ago.
“The current crisis has come at a critical time for the millions of people who depend on food and agriculture,” said the director of the FAO Emergency Office, Rein Paulsen, who has warned that it is time to act : “The window of opportunity is small.” Thus, he has appealed on the one hand to the distribution of humanitarian aid and also to the promotion of local production.
The conflict, meanwhile, does not show signs of a short-term solution, after the failure of successive ceasefire attempts. The violence derives from discrepancies over the integration of the RSF within the Armed Forces, one of the key points of the agreement signed in December to move towards a civilian government.
