Sudanese flee their war-torn country

Violence forces Sudanese to flee over border

Conflict has forced 100,000 people to flee Sudan as fighting creates a humanitarian crisis, UN officials said on Tuesday as gunfire and explosions echoed across the capital despite another ceasefire deal.

The three-week clash risks morphing into a broader disaster as Sudan’s impoverished neighbours deal with a refugee crunch and the fighting hampers aid deliveries in a nation where two-thirds of people already rely on some outside assistance.

UN refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado told reporters in Geneva that the 100,000 total included people from Sudan, citizens from South Sudan returning home, and people who were already refugees within Sudan fleeing the fighting. Refugees have also been fleeing over Sudan's border with Egypt in the north and Chad in the west.

Some 330,000 Sudanese citizens have also been displaced inside the country’s borders by the war, the UN said.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday it was resuming work in the safer parts of the country after a pause earlier in the conflict in which some WFP staff were killed. “The risk is that this is not just going to be a Sudan crisis, it’s going to be a regional crisis,” said Michael Dunford, the WFP’s east Africa director.

Commanders of the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who previously shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government show no sign of backing down, yet neither seem able to secure a quick victory. That has raised the spectre of a prolonged conflict that could draw in outside powers.

Hundreds have died in the fighting that pits the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Each has blamed the other for the violation of a series of ceasefires.

Another truce – for seven days, starting on Thursday – has been agreed in principle and both sides will nominate representatives for peace talks, South Sudan’s foreign ministry said late on Tuesday, though it was unclear if it was any more likely to hold than previous efforts.