In Sudan, the two sides agreed on a 7-day ceasefire starting tomorrow, Thursday, May 4th, after mediation by Salva Kiir, the President of South Sudan, on behalf of Igad. In the meantime, more and more Sudanese are fleeing. More than 100,000 have already left to take refuge abroad. And the UN expects the exodus to increase in the coming weeks, especially since, so far, no ceasefire has been respected.
The majority of arrivals are being registered in Egypt and Chad, with a significant number also heading to South Sudan, where many were previously refugees in their northern neighbor. Additionally, over 1,000 people are currently flocking to the Ethiopian border every day.
Furthermore, Paul Dillon from the International Organization for Migration explains that there are over 334,000 internally displaced persons in addition to those seeking refuge in neighboring countries. He adds that the scale of displacement is staggering, with more people displaced in just two weeks due to the violence than the total number of displacements recorded last year.
Ultimately, the UN is counting on the astronomical figure of 800,000 new exiles abroad. This is almost as many as the number of refugees present in Sudan. And the needs are enormous.
Jens Laerke from the UN’s Office of Humanitarian Affairs notes that the assistance program in Sudan had only received 14% funding when the hostilities broke out.“We call on all donors to quickly provide the necessary money to humanitarian organizations, which were already struggling before the conflict to meet the needs. Without this money, they simply cannot do anything.”