Over 200,000 people newly displaced in Sudan’s Kordofan as fighting rages

Sudan’s Kordofan faces worsening humanitarian crisis despite reopened supply route

More than 200,000 people have been newly displaced across Sudan’s Kordofan region due to intensified fighting since late last year, the United Nations has said, as continued drone attacks target critical water and electricity infrastructure in the region’s biggest city, el-Obeid.

The warning from the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) came on Wednesday as seasonal flooding in nearby North Darfur state also compounded the displacement crisis.

“The warning signs are impossible to ignore,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope. “Across Sudan, families are fleeing violence, losing access to water, electricity and healthcare, and now facing the added burden of destructive floods.”

The war in Sudan – which erupted in 2023 amid a power struggle between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – has killed at least 59,000 people and forced some 14 million people from their homes.

According to the IOM, displacement in Kordofan’s Sheikan district, which includes the city of el-Obeid, has surged 25 percent over the past eight months.

In el-Obeid, drone attacks by the RSF on the city’s main power transformer have knocked out electricity needed to pump water, run hospitals and keep phone lines working, the organisation said.

In Blue Nile state, some 78,000 people have also fled their homes, the IOM said, while in West Darfur, about 18,000 others were displaced in the first half of August.