UN says 15,000 Sudanese households displaced from North Darfur town

The UN migration agency said on Monday that 15,000 households have been displaced from the town of Al-Malha in North Darfur State in western Sudan due to the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Anadolu has reported.

“The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” explained the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). It added that residents fled primarily to other locations within the Al-Malha locality in the state between 20 and 21 March.

Al-Malha, located 200 kilometres from El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, serves as a strategic supply route connecting Sudan’s western areas with the country’s north and east.

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On Friday, the Sudanese Doctors’ Network said that 48 people were killed and 63 others injured in an attack by the RSF on Al-Malha town.

Over the past few weeks, the territorial control of the RSF has been shrinking rapidly in favour of the Sudanese Army across several states, including Khartoum, Al-Jazira, White Nile, North Kordofan, Sennar and Blue Nile.

The army and RSF have been fighting since mid-April 2023. The civil war has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 14 million, according to the UN and local authorities. Research from US universities, however, estimates the death toll at around 130,000.

The international community and the UN have called for an end to the war, warning of an impending humanitarian catastrophe as millions face famine and death due to food shortages. The conflict has spread to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states.

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