UN: Sudan Conflict Creates World’s Fastest-growing Displacement Crisis

As the bloody conflict continues in Sudan, the UN’s top aid official in the country indicated that the conflict has created the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis, which threatens to outstrip the Organization’s best efforts to help those most in need.

In his remarks at a media briefing, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan noted: “The past six months have caused untold suffering in Sudan and forced more than 5.4 million people from their homes.”

The UN official added that nearly 30,000 a day have fled fighting, some flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

He continued: “I’ve met mothers in Sudan who’ve told me they don’t know where to find the next meal for their children. I’ve met families sleeping in makeshift shelters, struggling to find food and water and unable to access healthcare; their children out of school and the family breadwinners out of work.”

Nkweta-Salam further mentioned that half of Sudan’s population – 24.7 million people - now require humanitarian assistance and protection, the UN official continued, before warning that conflict, displacement, and disease outbreaks now “threaten to consume the entire country”.