The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Thursday that about 3 million children in Sudan’s Gezira state are at risk due to the escalation of violence.
The organization explained in a statement that “the escalation of fighting in the Sudanese state of Al-Jazira forced at least 150,000 children to leave their homes in less than a week”, according to Agence France-Presse.
She added: More than half of Sudan’s states (10 out of 18 states) are witnessing active conflict.
UNICEF indicated that about 6 million people, nearly half of them children, live in Gezira State, and tens of thousands of the most vulnerable children in Gezira State have been forced to flee their homes. In search of safety, fighting broke out in areas that were previously considered relatively safe.
It reported that about 500,000 people fled violence elsewhere in the country to Gezira State, and about 90,000 of them took refuge in the state capital, Wad Madani, since the war broke out in Sudan on April 15.
The organization pointed out that the escalation of fighting led to the suspension of all humanitarian field missions inside and departing from Al-Jazira State, as of December 15. Which had a greater impact on children and families.
Current Situation in Sudan
Current Situation in SudanAfter 8 months of escalating conflict, the health system is stretched to the point of collapse, as its capacity is declining at a time when needs are increasing dramatically.
In Darfur, western Sudan, the situation is a disaster, and international partners can only reach those in need through high-risk operations emanating from neighboring Chad.
In Gezira State, health and humanitarian conditions have severely deteriorated due to the intensification of military operations, and as a result, work had to be temporarily suspended at the organization’s operations center in Wad Madani, which has been the backbone of the health response in Khartoum and the surrounding states since the start of the conflict.
Millions of Sudanese are suffering from hunger that has reached the point of catastrophe. There are approximately 17.7 million people across Sudan who suffer from complete food insecurity, including 4.9 million on the brink of famine. Estimates of the total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023 have risen from 15.8. One million people to 24.7 million.
Also Read: https://usateller.com/70-percent-of-the-casualties-in-the-war-on-gaza/
