Umm Dafuq, September 26 (Darfur24)
Hundreds of Sudanese families fleeing insecurity in the border areas of the Central African Republic (CAR) have arrived in Umm Dafuq, South Darfur, where they face dire humanitarian conditions and urgent shortages of food and shelter.
Issa Mohammed Ahmed, a mayor in Umm Dafuq, told Darfur24 that families arrived in the Al-Quba area northwest of the city on Wednesday after escaping villages in CAR.
He described their conditions as ‘extremely difficult,‘ noting that many are sleeping on the ground in heavy rains without food or tents.
Activists in Umm Dafuq have urged the government to intervene and provide emergency assistance, while also calling for support to families still stranded across the border in the Central African Republic.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who control South Darfur, have deployed troops to the returnees’ gathering point in the Al-Quba area northwest of Umm Dafuq.
The displacement was triggered by security operations carried out by Russia’s Wagner Group in CAR and rising intercommunal violence between the Kara community in CAR and Sudanese tribes along the border, which have together forced large numbers of people to flee.