UNHCR Expects 1.8 Million People to Flee Sudan by Year-End

The UNHCR estimated that nearly 1.8 million people to flee the ongoing war in Sudan to five neighboring countries by the end of the year and appealed for $1 billion to help them amid reports of rising disease and death rates.

According to UNHCR's numbers, more than 1 million people have left Sudan to neighboring states of Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic amid fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital Khartoum and beyond.

In South Sudan, which is due to receive a third of the 1.8 million people fleeing, thousands of people, many sick and exhausted after crossing the White Nile River, have been arriving in a transit center, aid group Médecins Sans Frontières reported.

UNHCR expressed growing concern about the health of the new arrivals, reporting rising malnutrition rates and diseases such as cholera and measles in "several" host countries.

Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR regional refugee coordinator for the Sudan Situation, said: "It is deeply distressing to receive reports of children dying from diseases that are entirely preventable, should partners have had sufficient resources."

"Action can no longer be delayed."