Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’

In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Briefing journalists in Geneva, the UN migration agency (IOM)’s Chief of Mission in Sudan, Mohamed Refaat, spoke of “massive displacement” after opposition forces and their affiliates reportedly launched coordinated assaults on Zamzam and Abu Shouk, two of the largest camps for internally displaced people in Darfur.

An estimated 80,000 have already fled Zamzam, Mr. Refaat said, and displacement could reach up to 400,000.

Male residents are the “main target” and they are all fleeing to reach the regional capital, El Fasher, which remains under control of the Sudanese army despite ongoing assaults by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Some 400 civilians were reportedly killed in the camp attacks alongside 10 medical workers from the NGO Relief International.

Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Refaat said that he had just returned from the country’s capital Khartoum, where he had heard horrific stories of sexual violence from a group of women survivors.

“They were talking openly about the sexual violence they have been exposed to…in front of their injured husbands, in front of their screaming children,” he said.

Anna Mutavati, UN Women Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, reported a staggering 288 per cent increase in demand for lifesaving support following rape and sexual violence.

“We have also seen what is beginning to look like systematic use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war,” she said. “We have seen women's lives and women's bodies being turned into battlegrounds in this conflict.”

The phenomenon is most likely underreported due to stigma, she said, and the numbers “don't capture the pain and the fear” felt by survivors.

The women who fled their homes and have sought safety in temporary gathering sites “left with nothing except the clothes on their backs”, Ms. Mutavati said. They are now stranded with no possibility of earning a living, while their children miss out on education.

“We have a whole generation here whose lives are being affected because they are not able to go to school,” she said.

The UN Women official warned that thousands of civilians are trapped in the Darfur region with “very little access or no access at all to critical humanitarian lifesaving services” including water, food and healthcare. She called for urgent humanitarian access and protection of aid workers.

Ms. Mutavati also insisted that the women who bear the brunt of the conflict “want their country back. They are tired of conflict after conflict breaking out in their beautiful country. They want sustainable peace so that it's not just guns ringing every two months or every two years.”

Luca Renda, Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Sudan said that the war had caused an estimated 40 per cent drop in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

He spoke of “triple digit inflation” and prohibitive food prices as well as a “severe disruption of infrastructure and services”.

“In some areas of Sudan, less than a quarter of the health facilities are working,” he stressed, while access to water remains “very complicated”.

Despite Sudan’s status as the “worst displacement crisis” and “worst humanitarian crisis” in the world, Mr. Renda also spoke of a “glimmer of hope” as people who had been displaced for two years are showing “eagerness” to go back to parts of the country recaptured by the Sudanese army, including the capital Khartoum and Al Jazirah state.

“There is this desire for Sudanese people to return to their homes and rebuild their lives,” he said, pointing out that this new situation creates an opportunity to support the return of an estimated three million people to Khartoum and up to four million people to “other regions that the population now consider to be safe”.

About a third of the internally displaced people in Sudan came from Khartoum when the war started, Mr. Renda said. Once they return they face challenges including the “massive” destruction of infrastructure and unexploded ordnance.

Clearance efforts have been progressing in neighbouring Omdurman in collaboration with the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and Khartoum city.

-Ends -

STORY: Sudan crisis update IOM, UN Women, UNDP 15 April 2025

TRT: 3:52”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 15 APRIL 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.

2. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Refaat, Sudan Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “They are all fleeing the Zamzam camp and the other camps being targeted, trying to reach El Fasher, because men have been the main target. As you are aware, Relief International lost ten of their medical teams working there, which has led also to all actors to try to flee the scene.”

4. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Refaat, Sudan Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “We are estimating that more than 80,000 have already fled the camp, and the numbers are really getting, increasing every day.”

6. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens.

7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohamed Refaat, Sudan Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “I just came from Khartoum and I managed to meet a group of women in a public space where we, I, as a foreigner man, I came and I sit with them and they were talking openly about the violence, the sexual violence they had seen, they have been exposed to, including being sexually harassed in front of their injured husbands, in front of their screaming children by actors of the war.”

8. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Anna Mutavati, Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, UN Women: “Thousands of civilians are trapped in the Darfur region with very little access or no access at all to critical humanitarian lifesaving services that they need, including access to water, access to food and access to health care. We call therefore for urgent humanitarian access and protection of humanitarian aid workers.”

10. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Anna Mutavati, Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, UN Women: “We've seen a 288 per cent increase in demand for lifesaving support following rape and sexual violence. We have also seen what is beginning to look like systematic use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. We have seen women's lives and women's bodies being turned into battlegrounds in this conflict. Yet these numbers don't capture the pain and the fear that I heard in the stories of survivors.”

12. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Anna Mutavati, Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, UN Women: “They want their country back. They are tired of conflict after conflict breaking out in their beautiful country. They want sustainable peace so that it's not just guns ringing every two months or every two years.”

14. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Luca Renda, Resident Representative in Sudan, UN Development Programme (UNDP): “We estimate that the GDP [gross domestic product] of Sudan has dropped by 40 per cent. We are now facing triple digit inflation with the prices of the goods that have skyrocketed and have created difficulties for people to access essential goods including food. We have a severe disruption of infrastructure and services. In some areas of Sudan, less than a quarter of the health facilities are working, for example. And access to water remains very complicated.”

16. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

17. SOUNDBITE (English) – Luca Renda, Resident Representative in Sudan, UN Development Programme (UNDP): “We are going to face a challenge, but it's also, I think, an opportunity in supporting the return of what we estimate could be about three million people maybe, to the capital, and maybe even four million in other, three to four million considering other regions that the population now consider to be safe.”

18. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.