UN Chief Grandi Warns of New Exodus as RSF Targets El Obeid in Sudan

UN Warning on Sudan Displacement

• ⚠️ The United Nations warned that fresh advances by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) could trigger a new exodus of refugees from Sudan.
• 💬 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, stated that humanitarian groups are desperately short on resources, barely able to respond to the crisis.

Escalating Conflict and RSF Advances

• 🚀 The RSF took the city of Al-Fashir in late October, marking one of their biggest gains in the 2.5-year war.
• 🎯 The paramilitary group continues to advance eastward into the Kordofan region, displacing an estimated 40,000 people locally.
• 🚨 Grandi warned that if a major city like El Obeid were "engulfed by the war," it would likely lead to a significant increase in refugee exodus, as urban centers produce the most displaced.

Dire Humanitarian Crisis

• 📊 The war has already uprooted nearly 12 million people, with 4.3 million having fled across borders to Chad, South Sudan, and other countries.
• 💔 Displaced individuals, primarily women and children, shared stories of husbands and sons being killed or conscripted.
• 🎭 Some mothers resorted to disguising their sons as girls to protect them from abduction by fighters.
• 💬 Common atrocities reported include rape, murder, forced recruitment of children, separation of families, and sheer robbery.

Underfunded Response

• 💸 Grandi highlighted that cutbacks by Western donors have left the Sudan response plan with only one-third of its necessary funding.