88,000 Displaced from Kordofan in Two Months Due to Fighting in Sudan
Report – Sudan Events
The number of displaced people in Sudan’s Kordofan states has risen to 88,316 over the past two months as a result of military operations between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the IOM said it recorded the displacement of 88,316 individuals from the Kordofan region across 69 locations between October 25, 2025, and January 2026, citing insecurity as the main driver.
The organization noted that the majority of the displaced moved to Sheikan and Al-Rahad localities in North Kordofan and White Nile states, all of which are under army control.
According to the IOM, 62% of those displaced fled from North Kordofan, followed by South Kordofan at 37%, while West Kordofan accounted for less than 1%.
Meanwhile, the UN-affiliated organization said earlier on Tuesday that more than three million internally displaced Sudanese have returned to their homes, despite the continuation of intense fighting in parts of the country.
Since October 2025, Sudan’s three Kordofan states—North, West, and South Kordofan—have witnessed fierce clashes between the army and the RSF, which had earlier taken control of all administrative centers in the neighboring Darfur region to the west.
The Rapid Support Forces currently control all five Darfur states in western Sudan—out of a total of 18 nationwide—while the army maintains control over most areas in the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east, and central regions, including the capital Khartoum.
A previous UN assessment estimated that more than 64,000 people were displaced in the Kordofan states between October 25 and December 30, 2025, due to escalating insecurity.
On Monday, the Sudanese army announced that it had entered the city of Al-Dalang, the second-largest city in South Kordofan, after a two-year siege imposed by the RSF and its allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces have been fighting the Sudanese army over disputes related to the integration of the RSF into the national military, a conflict that has triggered famine as part of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killed tens of thousands of Sudanese, and displaced nearly 14 million people.
