Displacement Continues to States of Gedaref, Kassala, and White Nile
moatinoon
With the ongoing volatile security situation in Sudan, the movement of Sudanese citizens and foreign refugees across the country continued either as displacement or seeking refuge in neighboring countries.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that internally displaced persons (IDPs) continued to flock to the states of Gedaref and Kassala due to renewed clashes in Jazeera and Sennar, as well as small parts of Gedaref State, in addition to fear of further escalation of armed conflict. As of March 5th, the number of hosted IDPs in these two states exceeded 594,000 according to the International Organization for Migrations displacement tracking.
Moreover, the White Nile State witnessed a significant increase in the number of newcomers from March 7th to 13th, with a total of 834 families comprising 5,920 individuals joining the shelter centers. According to center managers, the new arrivals came from the Jazeera State due to the ongoing conflict.
Regarding seeking asylum in neighboring countries, the UNHCR mentioned that forty families, consisting of 120 individuals from El Fasher, crossed the border into Chad via the Tine border post during the same period. Additionally, another 1,000 individuals crossed into Chad from El Geneina, West Darfur, due to insecurity and hardships in Sudan, particularly food shortages and lack of basic services.
While displaced persons continue to flow into Gedaref, Kassala, and the White Nile States, some dozens have returned to their homes in Khartoum State. The International Organization reported that 125 IDPs, mostly women and children, spontaneously returned to their regular places of residence in Khartoum State, including Omdurman, Bahri, East Nile, Al Haj Yousif, and Khartoum South. Among the reasons for their return were the inability to access basic services and exhaustion from living in harsh displacement conditions.
Despite the ongoing war, refugees from neighboring countries continue to arrive in Sudan, as 138 asylum seekers from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia arrived in eastern Sudan through the Qalas and Gargarifs entry points. Additionally, four refugees arrived in Gedaref via trucks. A total of 238 individuals (201 in Kassala and 37 in Gedaref) were registered by the resettlement office and the commission.
Eleven Somali individuals from the Shagarab refugee camp in Kassala were transferred to Gedaref by the International Organization for Migration as part of the voluntary return program. The International Organization for Migration will then facilitate the departure of the group from Gedaref to Somalia via Ethiopia. This is the first group to voluntarily return to their countries of origin so far in 2024.
