UN warns conflict in Sudan would escalate into a civil war
An airstrike targeting the district of Dar El-Salam kills 22 civilians and leaves many injured.
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Smoke rises over Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, June 8, 2023, as fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces continues (AP Photo)
Sudan is on the edge of a "full-scale civil war" that poses a threat to regional stability, the United Nations warned on Sunday, following an air strike that claimed the lives of approximately two dozen civilians in a residential area.
According to Sudan's Ministry of Health, the air strike targeted Omdurman, a city bordering Khartoum, specifically the district of Dar Al-Salam, resulting in the deaths of 22 civilians and causing numerous injuries.
This latest incident has fueled outrage amid the ongoing conflict between Sudan's rival generals, which has spanned nearly three months.
The disturbing footage shared by the health ministry on Facebook revealed dismembered bodies strewn across the ground, some partially covered, with women among the victims.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed that the air strikes resulted in 31 fatalities.
The toll of the war has already claimed the lives of approximately 3,000 individuals, with survivors reporting incidents of sexual violence and witnesses recounting ethnically targeted killings. Widespread looting has also been reported, prompting the UN to issue warnings of potential crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
Read more: 125 Sudanese detainees released under ICRC mediation
It was reported earlier this week that the conflict in Sudan has displaced some three million people out of their homes in less than three months, the United Nations International Organization for Migration reported.
With more than 2.2 million internally displaced Sudanese people and nearly 700,000 others who had to flee the country as a whole, the latest figures obtained by the IOM through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) revealed that the conflict displaced close to three million people.
The IOM revealed that the majority of the people were displaced from Khartoum (67%) and Darfur (33%) toward Northern State (16%), the River Nile (14%), West Darfur (7%), and White Nile states.
The agency underlined that access to health services and essential relief items is critically low, and though the majority of those internally displaced live with the community hosting them, an overwhelming 280,000 of them currently live in last-resort shelters such as camps, public buildings, and improvised shelters.
Read more: Sudan: A borderless conflict
