more than 800,000 people could flee fighting to neighboring countries, says UN

A humanitarian disaster awaits in East Africa. “More than 800,000 people” could flee the deadly fighting in Sudan, alerted on Monday May 1 on Twitter the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi. “We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if the violence doesn’t end, we will see more people forced to flee Sudan in search of safety.”he added.

According to the UNHCR, so far at least 73,000 people have moved to countries neighboring Sudan since fighting erupted in mid-April. The majority of them fled to Chad and South Sudan.

Several hundred dead for two weeks

The UNHCR had declared on April 25 that up to 270,000 people could take refuge in these two countries. But he did not give details including the other states that share borders with Sudan: Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Libya and the Central African Republic.

The fighting, which has left hundreds dead, has pitted the two generals in command of the country since their putsch in 2021. Air raids, gunfire and explosions rocked the Sudanese capital again on Monday, despite the announcement of a truce in the fighting between the army and paramilitaries, which has brought Sudan to the brink of a “disaster” humanitarian and health according to the UN.