More than 136,000 people have fled southeastern Sudan’s Sennar state since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began a series of attacks on towns, the United Nations said, the latest wave of displacement sparked by Sudan’s nearly 15-month war.
They are among the nearly ten million people who have been displaced from their homes since the outbreak of war between the RSF and the regular army.
The war sparked accusations of “ethnic cleansing” and warnings of famine, especially in RSF-controlled areas of the country.
On 24 June, the RSF began a campaign to capture the commercial city of Sennar, but quickly turned to the smaller towns of Sinjah and al-Dinder, leading to an exodus of civilians from all three cities, mainly to the neighbouring states of al-Gedaref and Blue Nile.
Images on social media showed people of all ages wading through the Blue Nile.
Activists in both states say there is little shelter or food aid for the displaced.
In Gedaref, they were stuck in the capital’s main market without tents or blankets after the government cleared schools that had served as refugee camps, the local resistance committee said.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration said in a statement that an estimated 136,130 people have been displaced in Sennar since June 24.
The state was already hosting more than 285,000 displaced people from Khartoum and al-Gezira states, meaning many of those who left their country in the last two weeks were likely displaced for the second or third time.
It was also reported that an exodus had also occurred in villages in Gedaref state, one of the possible targets of the RSF campaign.
In the west of the country, at least 12 people were killed by artillery fire at a cattle market in the town of al-Fashir on Wednesday, according to local activists. The town has been the scene of a battle for control between the RSF on the one hand and the army and allied armed groups on the other for months.
This led to an exodus of tens of thousands westward to Tawila and Jebel Mara, areas controlled by one of Sudan’s largest rebel groups led by Abdelwahid al-Nur, who on Thursday offered to use his troops to secure al-Fashir if both sides withdraw.
In a statement, Nour said al-Fashir – which, along with nearby Zamzam camp, is one of 14 locations that observers say are at risk of famine – could then resume its role as a hub for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
When asked by Reuters, the army did not comment on the offer. However, an RSF source said the force accepted the offer in principle and hoped that the army and allied forces would accept the offer and leave the city.