As Sudan civil war displacement nears 13m, UN Refugee Agency calls for ceasefire and funding boost

Sudan's civil war has resulted in
Sudan's civil war has resulted in "13 million displaced people and refugees", including many women who reported being raped and children, a regional UNHCR official said Monday. (AFP)
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Updated 14 April 2025
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As Sudan civil war displacement nears 13m, UN Refugee Agency calls for ceasefire and funding boost

As Sudan civil war displacement nears 13m, UN Refugee Agency calls for ceasefire and funding boost
  • After 2 years of conflict it marks a ‘very, very sad milestone’ in the world’s largest and fastest-growing displacement crisis, says agency’s regional chief
  • He describes recent atrocities in Darfur as ‘unacceptable events … another example of the massive violations of human rights happening in Sudan’

NEW YORK CITY: Nearly two years into the civil war in Sudan, the humanitarian crisis continues to spiral, with almost 13 million people now forcibly displaced and human rights violations escalating, the UN Refugee Agency warned on Monday.

“This is a very, very sad milestone,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, the agency’s regional director for East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.

Speaking to the press from Nairobi, he said that “close to 9 million Sudanese are internally displaced, and nearly 4 million have fled to neighboring countries,” making it the largest and fastest-growing displacement crisis in the world.

Balde also highlighted recent atrocities at the Zamzam displacement site, and in Abu Shouk near the town of El Fasher in Darfur, describing them as “just unacceptable events … another example of the massive violations of human rights happening in Sudan.”

The country has been locked in conflict since April 15, 2023, amid a power struggle between the Sudanese army and rival militia the Rapid Support Forces.

Scores of civilians were killed on Friday and Saturday in attacks by the RSF on El Fasher, Zamzam, Abu Shouk and other nearby locations in North Darfur State where displaced people were sheltering.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that preliminary figures put civilian deaths at 300, including 10 humanitarian workers from the nongovernmental organization Relief International, who were killed while operating one of the last functioning health centers in the Zamzam camp.

The El Fasher area has been under siege for more than a year, cutting hundreds of thousands of people off from lifesaving humanitarian aid. Famine conditions have been identified in Zamzam and two other nearby displacement camps, as well as 10 other areas in Sudan. A further 17 are at risk of famine as soon as next month.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the perpetrators of the latest attacks to be brought to justice. As the second anniversary of the conflict approaches, he urged all parties to “immediately cease the fighting and take steps towards an inclusive political process to put Sudan on a path towards peace and stability.”

More than two-thirds of Sudan’s population
, 30.4 million people, urgently require humanitarian aid, with millions of them at risk of famine. About 
80 percent of hospitals in conflict zones are no longer functioning, leaving millions without access to essential medical care amid a surge in outbreaks of disease.


Tens of thousands of Sudanese have been killed amid indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including in Darfur where ethnic violence has been constantly escalating.

Guterres renewed his call for the international community to unite in its efforts to bring an end to this “appalling conflict.”

Balde said the spillover from the war stretches far beyond Sudan’s borders and now affects countries that were not initially part of the regional refugee response, such as Uganda and Libya.

“This is not just a regional issue anymore,” he added. “Sudan is at the center of the African continent, and as this crisis continues more people are on the move, toward Southern Africa, the Gulf and Europe.”

The UN Refugee Agency’s $1.8 billion Regional Refugee Response Plan, which aims to support 4.9 million refugees and their host communities, is only 10 percent funded, a level Balde lamented as being “extremely, extremely low.”

He continued: “If you are in the fourth, soon fifth, month of the year and only funded at 10 percent, the level of support for food, water, shelter and education is going to be minimal.

“Communities that don’t have enough have shared what they have. That’s the true spirit of solidarity but they cannot do it alone.”

He urged donors to step up during a conference in London on Tuesday at which 20 foreign ministers will discuss the Sudan crisis.

“One expected outcome is greater support for both the refugees and the host governments,” Balde said. “Refugees are in need of urgent, life-saving support: food, health, shelter, protection services.”

In addition to financial aid, Balde emphasized the need for a ceasefire: “The people I see at the borders with Chad or South Sudan tell us one thing: they want normalcy so they can return home and take care of themselves.”

Neighboring South Sudan, which was already struggling with its own internal tensions, has received more than 1 million people from Sudan, adding to the burdens it faces as the country with the second-largest number of internally displaced persons and refugees after Sudan.

“It’s a very worrying situation,” said Balde, who noted that contingency plans are in place amid concerns about the renewed conflict in South Sudan.

He also addressed concerns surrounding the registration of refugees, which is a key step toward possible resettlement. He noted that the UN Refugee Agency supports national governments in this process but warned: “With funding going down, it’s going to be extremely difficult. That’s not the spirit of the Refugee Convention.”

He concluded with a stark reminder: “One in three Sudanese is displaced. One in six internally displaced persons globally is Sudanese. One in 10 refugees worldwide is from Sudan. That’s how devastating this crisis has been in just two years.”


Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes

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Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes

Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen’s capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes
CAIRO: Flights resumed on Saturday to Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, held by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, more than a week after massive Israeli airstrikes disabled the airport.
The Israeli strikes on May 6 — a rare daytime attack — destroyed the airport’s terminal and left craters on its runway, according to Khaled Al-Shaif, the head of the airport. At least six passenger planes were hit, including three belonging to the national carrier, Yemen Airway or Yemenia, he said.
On Saturday, a flight operated by Yemenia landed at the Sanaa International Airport with 136 passengers on board, according to the Houthis’ Al-Masirah satellite news channel.
The flight had departed from Jordan’s capital, Amman, earlier in the day, the airliner said. Three more flights were scheduled on Saturday between Sanaa and Amman.
The Israeli offensive was in response to a Houthi ballistic missile that hit the grounds of Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, which briefly halted flights and commuter traffic.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout Israel’s war with the militant Hamas group in Gaza, in solidarity with Palestinians there, while also targeting commercial and naval vessels on the Red Sea. The attacks have raised the Houthis’ profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel.
Since mid-March, the US military under President Donald Trump launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis. The two sides reached a deal to halt the US campaign in return for the Houthis halting their attacks on shipping.
However, the US-Houthis deal did not stop the rebels’ missile and drone attacks on Israel, which in turn responded with attacks on Yemen’s Red Sea ports held by the Houthis.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it struck the Hodeida and Salif ports, claiming that the Houthis were using the two facilities to transfer weapons. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least one person was killed and 11 others were wounded in Friday’s airstrikes.

Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest

Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest
Updated 57 min 58 sec ago
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Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest

Turkiye evacuates 82 nationals from Libya after unrest

ISTANBUL: Turkiye evacuated 82 of its nationals from the Libyan capital Tripoli after several days of fatal clashes between armed groups, foreign ministry sources said late Friday.
“Eighty-two citizens who wanted to return to Turkiye were assisted in their departure from Libya and allowed to return home,” the source said, referring to “the conflict and insecurity” that has gripped the North African nation in recent days.
The move came a day after the Turkish embassy said in a post on Facebook that it was preparing to evacuate its nationals via a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul from the Libyan port city of Misrata, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tripoli. It said it would organize bus transport from the capital.
The ministry did not give details about those who returned home and didn’t say whether more flights were planned.
Violence flared in the Libyan capital late on Monday between loyalist forces and powerful armed groups that the government is trying to dismantle.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Friday said “at least eight civilians” were killed in heavy clashes, which took place over the following days, bringing air traffic to an almost total standstill.
Although relative calm returned to Tripoli earlier on Friday, the situation remained highly volatile.
Turkiye, which backs the UN-recognized government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, called on Wednesday for a truce and said it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
Libya has struggled to recover from years of unrest since the NATO-backed 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi, with the country split between Dbeibah’s government in the west and a rival authority backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.


Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report

Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report
Updated 17 May 2025
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Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report

Putin to host first Russia-Arab summit in October, Russian agencies report

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited all leaders and the secretary general of the Arab League for the first Russia-Arab summit on October 15, Russia's news agencies reported on Saturday, citing a statement from the Kremlin.
"I am confident that this meeting will contribute to the further strengthening of mutually beneficial, multifaceted cooperation between our countries and will help in finding ways to ensure peace, security, and stability in the Middle East and North Africa," Interfax agency cited Putin as saying in the statement.
The Arab League, a regional organisation of Arab states in the Middle East and parts of Africa, has 22 member states who have pledged, among others, to cooperate on political, economic and military affairs in the region.
The reports came following a four-day trip by U.S. President Donald Trump through the Gulf region this week, during which Washington said it had secured several deals, including a $600 billion commitment by Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S., $142 billion in arms sales to the kingdom, and an AI partnership with the United Arab Emirates.


Arab summit host Iraq pledges $40 mn for Gaza, Lebanon reconstruction

Arab summit host Iraq pledges $40 mn for Gaza, Lebanon reconstruction
Updated 23 sec ago
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Arab summit host Iraq pledges $40 mn for Gaza, Lebanon reconstruction

Arab summit host Iraq pledges $40 mn for Gaza, Lebanon reconstruction

BAGHDAD: Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, whose country is hosting an Arab League summit, said Saturday it would provide $40 million for the reconstruction of Lebanon and Gaza after wars with Israel.
Iraq backs the creation of an “Arab fund to support reconstruction efforts” after crises in the region, Sudani told Arab leaders in Baghdad. Iraq will contribute “$20 million to the reconstruction of Gaza and $20 million for the reconstruction of Lebanon,” he added.

Regional leaders met in Baghdad on Saturday at the annual summit of the Arab League, with the war in Gaza expected to once again loom large.
In March, at an emergency summit in Cairo, Arab leaders endorsed a proposed plan for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip without displacing its roughly 2 million residents.
Saturday’s summit comes two months after after Israel ended a ceasefire reached with the Hamas militant group in January. In recent days, Israel has launched widespread attacks in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a further escalation of force to pursue his aim of destroying Hamas.
The Baghdad meeting was upstaged by US President Donald Trump’s tour in the region earlier in the week. Trump’s visit did not usher in a deal for a new ceasefire in Gaza as many had hoped, but he grabbed headlines by meeting with new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa — who had once fought against U.S. forces in Iraq — and promising to remove U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria.
Al-Sharaa was not attending the summit in Baghdad, where Syria’s delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Iraqi Shiite militias and political factions are wary of al-Sharaa’s past as a Sunni militant and had pushed back against his invitation to the summit.
Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaeda insurgents battling US forces in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq.
During Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011, several Iraqi Shiite militias fought alongside the forces of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, making al-Sharaa today a particularly sensitive figure for them.
Iraq, which has strong — and sometimes conflicting — ties with both the United States and Iran, has sought to strike a difficult balance between them and to position itself as a regional mediator.
An Iraqi political official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said that Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani had paid a visit to Baghdad prior to the summit and “conveyed messages of support for the Iranian-American negotiations” for a nuclear deal and a demand for the lifting of crippling sanctions on Iran.


Gaza rescuers say 10 killed as Israel announces new operation

Gaza rescuers say 10 killed as Israel announces new operation
Updated 17 May 2025
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Gaza rescuers say 10 killed as Israel announces new operation

Gaza rescuers say 10 killed as Israel announces new operation
  • Gaza’s civil defense agency earlier said Israeli strikes on Gaza had killed 100 people on Friday

JERUSALEM: Gaza rescuers said Israeli strikes killed 10 people on Saturday, after the Israeli military announced the early stages of an intensified operation aimed at defeating Hamas.
The stepped-up campaign came as the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory continued to worsen, with one of its last functioning hospitals warning it was no longer able to treat seriously wounded patients due to shortages of supplies and a nearby attack that damaged the premises.
Civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP 10 bodies had been brought to Gaza hospitals after strikes on Saturday morning.
Three people were killed and four wounded in drone strikes east of the southern city of Khan Yunis, he said, while three others were killed and several wounded in the bombing of a house in Jabalia, in the north.
An attack on an apartment northwest of Khan Yunis killed three people, he added, while one person was killed and five wounded, “including a girl, a young woman and a pregnant woman,” in a strike on a tent west of the same city.
The reports of deaths came after the Israeli army announced it had “launched extensive strikes and transferred forces to seize control of areas within the Gaza Strip.”
The moves were part of the “the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war’s objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas,” the military said.
The operation was launched as Israel faces pressure to lift a sweeping aid blockade it imposed on Gaza in early March as negotiations faltered over next steps in a ceasefire that collapsed weeks later.
Aid organizations have warned that the blockade has created critical shortages of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines.
Marwan Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, said the situation there was “tragic and catastrophic after its surroundings were targeted again this morning, causing the collapse of ceilings and cracks in the walls.”
“The operating rooms and intensive care units are completely full and we are unable to receive any more critical cases,” he said.
He added there was “a severe shortage of blood units, medicines, medical and therapeutic supplies, and surgical procedures.”
Sultan said doctors had been forced to source blood for transfusions from other patients and even from themselves “due to the impossibility of donations from citizens due to malnutrition.”