UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is gravely concerned at the latest developments in Sudan as fighting escalates in the Darfur region.
Those who have managed to escape across borders are arriving in droves. More than 8,000 people have fled into neighbouring Chad in the last week alone; a figure likely to be an underestimate due to challenges registering new arrivals.
UNHCR, with the government and partners on the ground in Chad, is preparing for more arrivals of refugees as the conflict in Sudan rages on. More than 800 people have been reportedly killed by armed groups in Ardamata, West Darfur, an area so far less affected by the conflict.
According to UNHCR, in the housed camp of Ardamata close to 100 shelters have been razed to the ground.
As reported to UNHCR, sexual violence, torture, arbitrary killings, extortion of civilians and targeting of specific ethnic groups are continuing to be perpetrated and it deeply alarms the international community. Other reports also indicate that thousands of internally displaced people had to flee a camp in El Geneina.
The UN’s member Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee told the Security Council, that “sexual and gender-based violence continues, with accusations of sexual violence by Rapid Support Forces personnel, and rape and sexual harassment implicating the Sudanese Armed Forces.”
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said last week that he is investigating fresh allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region, including the recent killings of 87 members of the ethnic Masalit community, reportedly carried out by the Rapid Security Forces and its militia.
The UN says it is particularly worried about the general conditions in Darfur, where babies are dying in hospitals, children and mothers are suffering from severe malnutrition and camps for displaced people have been burned to the ground.
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