ALBAWABA - According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 14 million, or one in two children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan.
The report stated that the ongoing war has displaced over 2 million children within the country and across borders. Additionally, 29,250 babies in Sudan will be born without medical assistance in the next three months, putting them and their mothers at risk of complications that could have lifelong and even fatal consequences, according to Save the Children.
According to UNICEF, before the conflict, the children of Sudan were already in a precarious situation with more than 6.9 million of school-going age out of school.
In addition, three million children under five years of age were suffering from malnutrition; one-third of the population needed water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities; and more than three million women and girls at risk of gender-based violence (GBV).
"Over 3,130 allegations of severe child rights violations have been reported in the country. This is just the tip of the iceberg, with severe under-reporting due to communications blackouts and lack of access," the UNICEF report reads.
"Sudan – and Darfur in particular – has become a living hell for millions of children, with thousands being ethnically targeted, killed, injured, abused, and exploited. This must end," UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, said in a statement.
"Children continue to suffer new violence, while their parents and grandparents still bear the scars of previous cycles of violence. We cannot allow it to happen yet again. All parties to the conflict must uphold international law and protect children and civilians. Children need peace" Russell added.
Earlier this week, battles across the Wadi Madani area intensified between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces outside the central city center, opening a new front in the 8-month raging war.
According to the United Nations, at least 14,000 people have fled the Wadi Madani area so far, and a few thousand have already reached other cities. Half a million people had sought refuge in Gezira, mainly from Khartoum.
There are reports of looting and damaging banks and the main markets in Wadi Madani by armed groups and citizens. The price of transportation has gone up alongside the prices of fuel reserves run low by the day.
"So many people have run away. We who remained are trapped inside our houses" Mohamed Babikir, a physician in Madani told the Guardian. There have been reports of heavy artillery and fighter jets over the city.
