About 1,200 children have died in refugee camps in civil war-torn Sudan since May, according to information from the UN. The situation could deteriorate drastically by the end of the year.
The children in nine refugee camps in the Northeast African country have fallen victim to malnutrition and measles infections, the UN children’s organization UNICEF announced in Geneva on Tuesday.
Due to the “incessant attacks” on health facilities and the poor nutritional situation in Sudan, it is feared that “several thousand newborns will die by the end of the year.”
Children under five years old
According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), the children were under the age of five. The deaths occurred in camps in White Nile state where refugees from neighboring countries have taken refuge.
As Ilham Nour, head of WHO operations in Sudan, reported, a total of 3.4 million babies and young children in the northeast African country are acutely malnourished. According to UNICEF, 435 children have also been killed in the conflict since fighting broke out five months ago.
Bloody power struggle in the country
In Sudan, the forces of military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF militia of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo have been engaged in a bloody power struggle since mid-April. The generals seized power together in a coup in 2019 and 2021 and later fell out over power-sharing. Neither side has managed to gain the upper hand so far.
Vain attempts for a ceasefire
Nearly 7,500 people have been killed since then, according to conservative estimates from the nongovernmental organization Armed Conflicts Location and Event Data Project. According to the UN, more than five million people have been displaced.
In Khartoum alone, 2.8 million people are fleeing ongoing airstrikes, artillery battles and street fighting. International attempts to broker a ceasefire have so far been unsuccessful. Serious violence occurs again and again, especially in the capital Khartoum and the western Sudanese region of Darfur.
Source: Krone
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