Displaced Sudanese double to 700,000 in a week: UN

The persisting war between Sudanese military chiefs have severely impacted civilians in the North African state, with the number of people forced to flee their homes doubling in the past week to 700,000, the United Nation has said.

Hundreds of people have already been killed in the war amid fresh concerns about the emerging ethnic clashes that have left at least 16 people killed so far in south of the country as well as demonstrations held in support of the army by a powerful group in eastern Sudan, an area that had not been affected by the war.

Paul Dillon, spokesman for the UN's International Organization for Migration in Geneva, said more than 700,000 people are currently internally displaced by the fighting, which is now in its fourth week.

This is while the figure had stood at 340,000 people last Tuesday.

Many Sudanese cross the border to escape the raging battle between the country's army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his new rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who is in charge of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The fighting is concentrated in the capital Khartoum, though other areas -- particularly the West Darfur region bordering Chad -- have also witnessed heavy fighting.

The United Nations Refugee Agency announced on Monday that in addition to internally displaced people, another 150,000 people have fled to neighboring countries.

People who are left behind in the war zones face a lack of water, electricity, food and medical care in a country where, according to the United Nations, about a third of its population needed humanitarian aid even before the war began.

Before the war, Sudan suffered from local conflicts, which according to the United Nations killed about 900 people last year.

SS