Those were the words of Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, describing the horrific results of the civil war in Sudan which pits the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, or “Hemedti,” leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two had collaborated in overthrowing President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, but after a period of co-government, had eventually had a falling out, which led to the outbreak of civil war in April 2023. Efforts by the African Union and other forces to broker an agreement between them failed.
The ensuing eight months of extraordinary violence, murder, and dislocation of tens of thousands of innocent victims—especially children—spread from the capital of Khartoum, which has been destroyed, to other parts of the country, including Darfur. According to HumAngle platform since mid-April, the war between the Army and the RSF has resulted in the deaths of 10,000 people and the displacement of at least 6.3 million. Sudan has the largest child- displacement crisis, according to Save the Children. About 7,600 children flee their homes daily in Sudan, fearing RSF forces that kidnap them, forcibly recruit them, or kill them.
Just between the beginning of October and Nov. 15, an estimated 350,000 children were displaced. In the third week of October alone, 150,000 children were forced from their homes. Some 3 million out of a population of 23 million children have fled violence since mid-April, and have sought shelter in camps, schools, and displacement centers. But displacement centers themselves come under attack. Save the Children gave the example of 1,300 people who were killed at one displacement camp in Darfur. UNICEF has received allegations of over 3,100 severe violations, including the killing and maiming of children, but the assumption is that this is just “the tip of the iceberg.”
