UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has announced that at least 435 children have been killed and over 2000 injured in the first 100 days of the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces.
The United Nations agency disclosed in an official statement on Monday that there have been more than 2,500 serious violations of children’s rights, averaging more than one per hour, in a country where 14 million young people are in desperate need of aid.
Simultaneously, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that nearly 300 displaced children have died due to measles and malnutrition in White Nile State.
Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees, declared: “The time has come for all parties involved in this conflict to end this tragic war immediately.” This statement comes amid growing concerns about the more than 740,000 refugees who have now fled Sudan for neighboring countries.
To date, more than 3.3 million people have been displaced within Sudan and across its borders, including to Egypt. The UNHCR noted that most children are still arriving without their families.
In its statement, UNICEF emphasized: “For every child that is killed or injured, we know that many more are displaced from their homes and lack access to basic services.” The agency stressed the need for safe and unimpeded access to children and families so that they can receive the support they need.
The violent clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have been ongoing for three months in various parts of Sudan, primarily in the capital, Khartoum, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.
Since April 15, large-scale, violent clashes have been occurring between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces in various regions of Sudan, most of them concentrated in the capital Khartoum, leaving hundreds of civilian casualties.
The conflict between the head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council and commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, became public after the signing of the “Framework Agreement.” This agreement established the transitional period between the military component and the civilian component in December, which approved the military’s exit from politics and the transfer of power to civilians.
Dagalo accused the Sudanese army of planning to stay in power and not transferring power to civilians after the army’s demands to integrate the Rapid Support Forces under the banner of the armed forces, while the army considered the Rapid Support Forces’ movements as rebellion against the state.
The final political agreement to end the crisis in Sudan was scheduled to be signed on April 1, along with the constitutional document on the 6th of the same month. However, this did not happen due to disagreements between the leaders of the armed forces and the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces on setting a timeline for integrating the Rapid Support Forces into the army.
