Sudan: Clashes between SAF and RSF - Flash Update No. 4 (21 April 2023) [EN/AR]

HIGHLIGHTS

• Despite high-level calls for an Eid ceasefire, clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued on 21 April in Sudan for a seventh consecutive day, especially in Khartoum.

• The death toll from the conflict continues to rise, with over 400 people killed, and over 3,500 injured.

• An IOM staff member has been killed, bringing the aid worker deaths to five.

• Civilians are increasingly fleeing areas affected by fighting, including Khartoum.

• Civil society organizations and networks have mobilized to respond to immediate needs, especially in Khartoum.

• Looting of international and humanitarian organizations’ assets and offices has compromised humanitarian action in key areas of the country.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Despite renewed calls for a ceasefire, especially for Eid al-Fitr, clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted on 15 April 2023 continued as of 21 April, with reports of clashes intensifying in Khartoum North. In El Fasher, North Darfur, heavy gunshots were heard during the night, while the neighbourhood committees in Wad Madani, Aj Jazirah state, warned of clashes between SAF and RSF forces along the road from Khartoum to Madani—which has been one of the main routes used by those fleeing the capital—calling on residents to stay home and travellers to get off the main road.

At least 413 people have been killed nationwide, including 132 in Khartoum, and more than 3,500 people are injured, according to the Ministry of Health, as of 20 April. An aid worker from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) was killed on 21 April after the vehicle he was traveling in with his family south of El Obeid, North Kordofan, was caught in a crossfire between warring parties. This brings the number of aid workers killed in Sudan since 15 April to five.

Increased displacement is being reported in multiple locations across Khartoum state, as well as to Aj Jazirah, Sennar, White Nile, River Nile and Gedaref states, due to fighting and lack of basic commodities, according to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix. In North Kordofan, between 7,500 and 8,000 people have reportedly been displaced from El Obeid Town and have sought shelter in the locations of Almadina Altydua, Folat Ebaid, Taiba North, Arafat neighbourhood across Sheikan locality. Displacement has also been reported in Al Fasher, North Darfur. The majority of the estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Sudanese refugees who have arrived in Chad are women and children, most of whom are currently sheltering out in the open, according to UNHCR.

Lack of safe drinking water—which is widely reported in conflict-affected areas—is increasing the risk of water-borne diseases, including cholera, while vector control efforts for mosquito-borne diseases (including dengue fever and malaria) could cause cases to rise, according to the Ministry of Health.

Record numbers of people were already facing hunger in Sudan before the conflict erupted on 15 April, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), and the food security situation was already expected to deteriorate in the period ahead, with the annual lean season beginning in April/May, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET). With aid agencies unable to deliver critical assistance, and communities’ resilience severely undermined by the ongoing conflict in multiple areas, these figures are expected to rise in the period ahead.