Khartoum: More than 1,600 Sudanese civilians fled the town of Kertala in South Kordofan in a single day as insecurity escalated alongside rising abuses by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Sunday.
According to Anadolu Agency, the UN agency stated that its field teams from the displacement tracking matrix estimated that 1,625 individuals left Kertala on November 28 due to worsening security conditions tied to RSF violations. The displaced people have moved to scattered sites across Dalami locality, with the agency warning that conditions in the area remain volatile and tense.
Witnesses informed Anadolu that earlier on Sunday, the Sudanese army seized several areas west of Abbasiya Tagali in South Kordofan following clashes with the RSF and its ally, the SPLM-North faction. On the preceding Friday and Saturday, the army repelled an RSF attack on Kertala in the same state.
The latest wave of displacement follows RSF attacks, supported by the SPLM-North faction, on several villages in South Kordofan, which included the abduction of young people for forced recruitment. The three Kordofan states-North, West, and South-have witnessed weeks of intense fighting between the army and the RSF, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee, as reported by rights groups.
Of Sudan's 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army, on the other hand, holds most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and center, including the capital, Khartoum.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has resulted in the deaths of at least 40,000 people and the displacement of 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.