SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre – Burst of violence in Darfur triggers Sudan’s highest number of conflict displacements in six years
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) found that a surge in inter-communal attacks in West, South and North Darfur in January forced more people to flee their homes in three days than in the whole of 2020 in Sudan, with numbers continuing to rise.
IDMC cite the violence between armed militias from the Massalit and Arab communities between 15-18 January which triggered around 183,000 new displacements, alongside displacements in West Darfur’s al-Geneina, South Darfur’s Gereida and Jebel Marra and North Darfur’s Tawila.
IDMC attribute the violence to “unaddressed” triggers: ethnic disputes between herders and farmers over scarce resources overlap with disasters such as flooding and political instability.
IDMC director Alexandra Bilak said: “the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) and government now have a major task to work together towards addressing the causes of inter-communal disputes and prevent further escalations of violence and displacement.”