UN FEARS 800,000 MAY FLEE FIGHTING IN SUDAN

▶ Guterres will do ‘whatever needs to be done’ to bring an end to fighting

More than 800,000 people could flee Sudan as a result of the violence between rival military factions, the UN refugee agency said yesterday.

This includes about 580,000 Sudanese, while the others are existing refugees living temporarily in the country, assistant high commissioner for Refugees Raouf Mazou said at a briefing to UN members in Geneva.

“In consultation with all concerned governments and partners we’ve arrived at a planning figure of 815,000 people that may flee into the seven neighbouring countries,” he said.

Since fighting between the Sudanese army, led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen Mohamed Dagalo, began on April 15, Mr Mazou said about 73,000 fled across Sudan’s borders.

Sudanese have sought refuge in South Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Libya.

The UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Sudan warned the crisis was turning into a “full blown catastrophe” and that the risk of violence spreading to some neighbouring countries was extremely worrying.

“It has been more than two weeks of devastating fighting in Sudan, a conflict that is turning Sudan’s humanitarian crisis into a full-blown catastrophe,” Abdou Dieng said by video link.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said yesterday that the organisation “very much hopes the two generals will find a way forward to stop the fighting immediately for the sake of the Sudanese people and to halt the deteriorating humanitarian situation which is quickly unravelling”.

Mr Guterres has been “on the phone” to discuss Sudan and has spoken to both generals, Mr Dujarric said.

“He will do whatever needs to be done whenever it needs to be done,” he said.

The briefings followed increasingly grim warnings from UN agencies about the effects of the conflict on the

impoverished country of 45 million. The heaviest fighting, including artillery fire and aerial bombardment, has been reported in the capital Khartoum and the western region of Darfur.

Both sides have agreed to and breached a series of ceasefires, despite calls for a lull to allow civilians to seek safety and receive humanitarian assistance.

The UN’s senior official in the country said yesterday that the warring sides agreed to send representatives for negotiations, possibly in Saudi Arabia, but the logistics were still being worked out.

The talks would focus on establishing a “stable and reliable” ceasefire monitored by “national and international observers”, Volker Perthes said.

Only the military has announced it will join negotiations, with no word from the

RSF. The death toll continues to rise, with reports emerging of looting at hospitals and blood banks, and healthcare workers being prevented from reaching those in need.

The fighting has pushed Sudan’s already “extremely fragile” healthcare system to the verge of disaster, a World Health Organisation official said yesterday.

With hospitals bombed, medicines running low and doctors fleeing, “it is a disaster in every sense of the word”, Ahmed Al Mandhari, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, told AFP.

Mr Dujarric said the UN was extremely concerned. “The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan,” he said.

On Sunday, Mr Guterres said he would send an envoy to Sudan given the “unprecedented” situation. UN emergency relief co-ordinator Martin Griffiths, who will serve as the envoy, said the humanitarian situation was near breaking point.

“I am on my way to the region to explore how we can bring immediate relief to the millions of people whose lives have turned upside down overnight,” he said on Sunday.

Yesterday, the World Food Programme said it would immediately lift its suspension of operations, put in place after the death of three team members on the first day of fighting.

More than 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced, including 75,000 in Sudan, the UN said.

A further 20,000 fled to Chad, 4,000 to South Sudan and 3,500 to Ethiopia.

About 6,000 people, most of them women, have sought refuge in the Central African Republic, the UN refugee agency said.