Cairo: Intensified fighting in central Sudan displaced some 2,000 people over the past three days, the UN migration agency said Monday, the latest in a war that has convulsed the country for more than two years and killed tens of thousands.
The International Organisation for Migration said the displaced fled from several towns and villages in the area of Bara in North Kordofan province between Friday and Sunday. Kordofan has been one of two areas, along with the western Darfur region, that recently became the epicentre of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
Attacks in recent weeks in Darfur, where the RSF captured the key city of el-Fasher left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands to flee to overcrowded camps to escape reported atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to aid groups and UN officials.
The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher. In late October, RSF fighters launched attacks in the town of Bara in North Kordofan, killing at least 47 people, Sudan Doctors Network said at the time.
People in North Kordofan have been fleeing from several villages and towns, including Bara, Sheikhan, ArRahad, Um Rawaba, Um Siala and Sakra, with an estimated 38,990 people fleeing between October 26 and November 9, according to the IOM.