Sudan: more than 8.5 million citizens forced to abandon homes and villages, 1.8 million are across the border: people are still fleeing after a year of war

ROMA – A year has passed but the war in Sudan continues to rage. The country and its neighboring states are experiencing one of the most serious humanitarian and displacement crises in the world. There are now more than 8.5 million Sudanese who have been forced to abandon their homes and villages and of these 1.8 million have crossed the border. Violations of humanitarian law are commonplace, including threatened civilians, sexual and gender-based abuse. The middle class in Sudan is almost completely destroyed: architects, doctors, teachers, engineers, nurses and students have lost everything. The humanitarian response is much slower than it should be because security issues and the unreachability of some areas prevent NGOs on the ground from working at full capacity. Without income and aid, people are unable to obtain enough food, in fact hunger and malnutrition are experiencing an alarming growth in various areas of the country.

The escape. Thousands of people cross borders every day, as if the emergency began yesterday, reports the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On average, over 1,800 people arrive in South Sudan every day. The country has welcomed the largest number of refugees from Sudan, almost 640 thousand, many of whom are South Sudanese returning after many years. Chad has experienced and still experiences the largest influx of refugees in history. Although UNHCR teams and other organizations on the ground managed to relocate most of the refugees to new settlements, over 150,000 people remained in the border areas, in overcrowded makeshift camps without adequate hygienic conditions. In the Central African Republic, in the month of March alone, over 2,200 people arrived from Sudan but they are in areas that are difficult to reach for the delivery of aid. The number of Sudanese registered with UNHCR in Egypt has increased fivefold in the last year: an average of 2,000 to 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan reach UNHCR reception areas in Cairo and Alexandria every day . Even Ethiopia, which already hosts one of the largest refugee populations on the African continent, reports continuous arrivals of new Sudanese refugees, exceeding 50,000. In the last year, Uganda – which already has over 1 million refugees – has welcomed 30,000 Sudanese, of which over 14,000 since the beginning of the year. Most of the fleeing Sudanese come from Khartoum and have university-level education. UNHCR statistics also show an increase in movements of Sudanese refugees to Europe: over 6,000 have arrived in Italy from Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of 2023, a nearly six-fold increase compared to the previous year.

Who runs away. It is mainly women and children who cross borders: they arrive in remote areas with little or nothing and in urgent need of food, water, shelter and medical care. Many families have been separated. Adults and children have witnessed and often suffered violence, so psychosocial support is one of the priorities. Malnutrition is now a plague. In Chad in recent months, 33,184 cases of moderate acute malnutrition and 16,084 cases of severe acute malnutrition have been identified among young refugees under the age of 5. Despite the scale of the crisis, aid funding is extremely low. Only 7 percent of the demands outlined in the 2024 Sudan Crisis Response Plan have been met.

The situation in Chad. Chad hosts probably the largest share of Sudanese refugees. In Chad, however, food insecurity is high and humanitarian aid is not enough to cover the needs of either the natives or the new arrivals. Action against Hunger, who has been working in the country since 1981, explains that 3.4 million people are currently in critical conditions of food insecurity. The data suggests that between October 2023 and September 2024 the number of malnourished children will reach 480 thousand, or 15 percent more than in 2022. The provinces with the highest number of new arrivals are Sila and Ouaddaï, in the eastern part of the country , and are also among the most vulnerable areas, with little access to basic services. Starting from May, with the arrival of the rainy season and therefore a lean period, the humanitarian situation is likely to deteriorate further because needs will increase and food supplies will decrease.