By Kolawole Ojebisi
The United Nations has lamented the impact of the Sudan civil war on neighbouring nations, stressing that the humanitarian crisis has led to the exodus of over four million nationals of the country.
The agency maintained many survivors of the civil war, which began in 2023, are facing inadequate shelter due to funding shortages.
UN refugee agency spokesperson, Eujin Byun, disclosed this during a Geneva press briefing on Tuesday.
“Now in its third year, the 4 million people is a devastating milestone in what is the world’s most damaging displacement crisis at the moment.
“If the conflict continues in Sudan, thousands more people, we expect thousands more people will continue to flee, putting regional and global stability at stake,” Byun said.
Recall that a long brewing power struggle between Sudanese armed forces and a collection of militia known as Rapid Support Forces (RSF) or Janjaweed in local parlance, became a full-blown war on April 15, 2023.
The fallouts of the war eventually spread to Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Libya, the seven countries Sudan shares borders with.
Reacting to this development, the UNHCR Principal Situation Coordinator, Dossou Patrice Ahouansou, said more than 800,000 of the refugees have arrived in Chad, adding that “their shelter conditions are dire due to funding shortages, with only 14% of funding appeals met”.
“This is an unprecedented crisis that we are facing. This is a crisis of humanity. This is a crisis of protection based on the violence that refugees are reporting,” he said.
