UNHCR Informs Geneva Unimaginable Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan
Sudan Events -Talal Mudathir
External Relations Officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR Dominic Hyde said in the press conference held on Tuesday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva that the continuing worsening of the conflict in Sudan reveals the chapters of a humanitarian crisis beyond imagination.
She pointed out that the recent conflict in the Darfur region has caused more cases of displacement, as thousands suffer in their efforts to search for shelter, and many sleep under trees on the side of the roads.
Disastrous situation in White Nile
The official said that she visited White Nile State in Sudan last week, where an estimated more than 433,000 internally displaced people live. Moreover, this state was hosting about 300,000 refugees – most of them from South Sudan – in 10 camps.
She described the situation there as “catastrophic,” as more than 1,200 children under the age of five died in White Nile State between mid-May and mid-September alone, due to a measles outbreak accompanied by a severe level of malnutrition.
This continues to be the fate of at least four children every week in this state, with the lack of medicines, staff and basic supplies.
Children’s future in danger
Dominic indicated that the sharp increase in the number of forcibly displaced people has led to the imposition of great pressure on basic services in the camps. As is the case across Sudan, schools have closed over the past seven months as displaced people find temporary shelter in classrooms. Therefore, she said, the education and future of millions of children in Sudan are at risk.
Rise in refugee rates
Meanwhile, the official spoke of a significant increase in the pace of displacement of Sudanese to neighboring countries and reported that in Chad the average number of newly arrived people is 700 people per day. She added that she was last week in the city of Renk in South Sudan – near the border with Sudan. The city has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of refugees arriving there.
During the week she spent there, more than 20,000 people crossed the border from Sudan, some of whom were South Sudanese refugees returning to their homes, while the majority – about 70 percent of them – were Sudanese.
More than 362,000 people have crossed the border into South Sudan since the conflict began in Sudan. Relief agencies – such as UNHCR and others – are doing their best to help and the number of internally displaced people has reached 4.5 million people, while 1.2 million people have been forced to flee to neighboring countries – such as Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic. Women and children represent the vast majority of these refugees (up to 90 percent in some cases – as is the case in the Central African Republic).
The worst ever
Dominic Hyde concluded her statements by saying, “I have spent 30 years working in this field, and this is one of the worst conditions I have witnessed.”
