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Run, but we will find you, Sudan fighters tell terrified civilians
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
“People told me multiple times that when they were fleeing from Zamzam [displacement camp], armed people would threaten them while they were in flight, saying sure, ‘Flee, go to that place, run here, run there, we will follow you, we will find you,” said Jocelyn Elizabeth Knight, a Protection Officer for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, the Ms. Knight described speaking to one traumatized child in a shelter run by the agency, whose experience was mirrored across the wartorn nation.
“A tiny boy told me, ‘You know, during the day things are okay here, but I'm afraid to go to sleep at night in case the place where we're living is attacked again.’”
In addition to heavy fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries, civilians now face a fast-spreading and deadly cholera outbreak.
“Cholera has swept across Sudan with all the states reporting outbreaks,” said Dr Ilham Nour, Senior Emergency Officer with the UN World Health Organization (WHO), noting that since last July, nearly 100,000 cases have been reported.
Lives on the line
The highly contagious disease spreads rapidly in unsanitary conditions. As of early August, 264 cases and 12 deaths have been identified at Dougui refugee settlement in eastern Chad hosting Sudanese arrivals from Darfur.
Surrounding villages have also reported suspected cases, while others have emerged in Treguine settlement, one of many UNHCR camps in eastern Chad that host Sudanese refugees.
Help to contain the disease needs to come immediately, insisted UNHCR’s Dossou Patrice Ahouansou, Principal Situation Coordinator for Eastern Chad.
“We still have more than 230,000 refugees at the border in very difficult situation,” he said. “Without urgent action including enhancing access to medical treatment, to clean water, to sanitation, to hygiene and most important, relocation from the border, many more lives are on the line.”
As part of the response and to prevent new cases, the UN agency has suspended the relocation of refugees from border points.
Unexploded weapons alert
Meanwhile, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) confirmed fears that unexploded ordnance from ongoing battles are killing and maiming non-combatants who are unaware of the extent of the danger.
“The sad reality of this ongoing conflict is it is not happening in rural areas, it’s mainly happening in urban areas, in the areas which are highly populated,” said Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief of UNMAS Sudan.
Last week, six minefields were confirmed in Khartoum and three of them contained anti-personnel landmines - the first time this has been reported - he told journalists in Geneva.
“Contamination is on the roads, in homes, in schools and airstrips, medical facilities, humanitarian bases,” the UNMAS official continued. “This is a population [that] is largely unaware of the dangers that are waiting for them…this problem is only growing every day.”
ends
STORY: Sudan update – UNHCR, UNMAS, WHO
TRT: 2’11”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 08 AUGUST 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Speakers:
- Jocelyn Elizabeth Knight, UNHCR Protection Officer for Darfur (from Port Sudan)
- Dr Ilham NOUR, WHO Senior Emergency Officer (via Zoom in Geneva)
- Dossou Patrice Ahouansou, UNHCR Principal Situation Coordinator for Eastern Chad (from N’Djamena)
- Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief, UNMAS Sudan (from Nairobi)
Additional broll available from UNHCR - please credit: (https://media.unhcr.org/Share/l8i583clo2pgtml543msyy24283ap22f
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations, flag alley.
- Medium-wide, Press room podium and journalists, TV screens.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Jocelyn Elizabeth Knight, UNHCR Protection Officer for Darfur: “People told me multiple times that when they were fleeing from Zamzam, armed people would threaten them while they were in flight, saying sure, ‘Flee, go to that place, run here, run there, we will follow you, we will find you, you know, we will get you, wherever you go.’”
- Wide, Press room, participants, control booths, TV screen showing speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Jocelyn Elizabeth Knight, UNHCR Protection Officer for Darfur: “A tiny boy told me, ‘You know, during the day things are okay here, but I'm afraid to go to sleep at night in case the place where we're living is attacked again.’”
- Wide, Press room, TV screens showing speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Ilham Nour, WHO Senior Emergency Officer (via Zoom in Geneva): “Cholera has swept across Sudan with all the states reporting outbreaks. Nearly 100,000 cases have been reported since July last year.”
- Wide, podium speakers, Press room, TV screens showing speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Dossou Patrice Ahouansou, UNHCR Principal Situation Coordinator for Eastern Chad (from N’Djamena): “We still have more than 230,000 refugees at the border in very difficult situation. So, without urgent action, you know, including enhancing access to medical treatment, to clean water, to sanitation, to hygiene and most important, relocation from the border, you know, many more lives are on the line.”
- Wide, Press room participants, TV screen showing speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Dossou Patrice Ahouansou, UNHCR Principal Situation Coordinator for Eastern Chad (from N’Djamena): “As of early August, 264 cholera cases have been reported by the Government in Dougui settlement and 12 deaths. As a consequence, the UNHCR has suspended the relocation of refugees from border points in order to prevent new cases.”
- Wide, podium speakers, participants.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief, UNMAS Sudan (from Port Sudan): “Last week, six minefields were confirmed in Khartoum. Three of them contains anti-personnel landmines, which is the first time, we hear.”
- Medium-wide, journalists, participants.
- Medium, journalists, participants.
- Medium-wide, participants, control booths, UN logo reflected in glass screens.
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