UPDATE – Insecurity displaces over 1,000 Sudanese civilians from South Kordofan: UN

UPDATES NUMBER OF DISPLACED CIVILIANS, REVISES HEADLINE

By Adel Abdelrheem and Rania Abu Shamala

KHARTOUM, Sudan/ ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 1,000 people were displaced from South Kordofan in southern Sudan in two days due to worsening insecurity, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Wednesday.

In a statement, the UN agency said that its field teams recorded the displacement of 590 people from the village of Karmojiya on the outskirts of Abbasiya since Tuesday.

The organization also said that 235 more people were displaced from the village of Qardard Amradami near Talodi town, and 160 others from the village of Damik.

The IOM also said that insecurity had forced 185 more people to flee from the city of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, on Tuesday to various locations in Abu Zabad locality in West Kordofan state and Sheikan locality in North Kordofan.

The rising pace of displacement from Kadugli comes as fighting intensifies between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in South Kordofan.

On Monday, the IOM said that 600 people were displaced from Kadugli amid escalating violations by the rebel group.

The three Kordofan states – North, West, and South – have seen weeks of fierce fighting between the army and the RSF, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee.

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army, in turn, holds most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and center, including the capital Khartoum.

The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.