Sudan armed conflict: Almost 3 lakh Sudanese fled their homes after a notorious group seized Wad Madani, says UN

Fighting between Sudan’s military and a notorious paramilitary group has resulted in the displacement of up to 300,000 people in Jazeera province, previously a sanctuary for families affected by the country’s devastating conflict, the UN said on Thursday.

The conflict ignited in Wad Medani, the provincial capital when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the city earlier this month. The RSF claimed control over Wad Medani this week. The military, in response, stated its withdrawal from the city and initiated an investigation.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan, which began in mid-April, stems from tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Both leaders orchestrated a military coup in October 2021, derailing Sudan’s transition to democracy after a popular uprising ousted President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The UN agency International Organization for Migration said that between 250,000 and 300,000 people fled the province — many reportedly on foot — to safer areas in the provinces of al-Qadarif, Sinnar and the White Nile. Some sheltered in camps for displaced people and many sought shelter in local communities, it said.

Jazeera, Sudan’s breadbasket, was home to about 6 million Sudanese. Since the war, about 500,000 displaced fled to the province, mostly from the capital, Khartoum, which has been the centre of fighting, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Medani, which is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Khartoum, had hosted more than 86,000 of the displaced, OCHA said.

The World Food Program announced Wednesday that it has temporarily halted food assistance in some parts of Jazeera, in what it described a “major setback” to humanitarian efforts in the province.

The U.N. food agency said that it had assisted 800,000 people in the province, including many families that fled the fighting in Khartoum.

The conflict in Sudan has wrecked the country and killed up to 9,000 people as of October, according to the United Nations. However, activists and doctors’ groups say the real toll is far higher.

More than 7 million people were forced out of their homes, including more than 1.5 million who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, according to the U.N. figures. Chad received more than 500,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan’s western region of Darfur, where the RSF conquered much of its areas.

The fighting in Wad Medani forced many aid groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to evacuate their staff from the city, which was a centre of humanitarian operations in the country.

The RSF takeover prompted fears among Wad Medani residents that they would carry out atrocities in their city as they did in the capital, Khartoum, and Darfur. The U.N. and rights groups have accused the RSF of atrocities in Darfur, which was the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s.

The RSF grew out of the state-backed Arab militias known as Janjaweed, which were accused of widespread killings, rapes and other atrocities in the Darfur conflict.

Ahmed Tag el-Sir, a father of three, fled along with his family to the neighbouring province of al-Qadarif after the RSF rampaged through their village of al-Sharfa Barakar north of Wad Medani.

“They shelled the village and took over residents’ homes, like they did in Darfur,” the man said from a relative’s house where he shelters along with two other families. “We fled out of fear of being killed or our women being raped by the Janjaweed.”

With inputs from AP.