THE war in Sudan has displaced more than 14 million people, about 30 per cent of the population, since it broke out over a year ago, creating the world's largest displacement crisis this year, the International Organisation for Migration said today.

A day earlier, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned that the country’s warring military and paramilitary forces are escalating attacks.

Of the Sudanese displaced, 11 million are internal and 3.1 million have fled to neighbouring countries, Amy Pope, director-general of the UN agency, said in a press briefing from Port Sudan. 

The number of the displaced had increased by 200,000 since September, she said.

More than half are women and over a quarter are children under five, according to Ms Pope.

“The scale of the displacement and the humanitarian needs are growing every day. Frankly, half of the population now needs help,” she said, noting that they have no access to shelter, clean drinking water or healthcare.

As a result, disease is spreading fast and half of all Sudanese are struggling to obtain the minimum amount of food to survive. Famine conditions have taken hold in North Darfur, she said.

The UN warned this week that almost 25 million people require humanitarian assistance, with over 750,000 suffering “catastrophic” food insecurity.

The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 when tensions between the military and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated into violence in the capital Khartoum and spread across the country.

More than 24,000 people have died, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group monitoring the war. Atrocities and war crimes, including mass rape and ethnic cleansing, have been committed.

Most recently, intense fighting has broken out in east-central Sudan, with 124 people killed in attacks by RSF fighters.

The UN said on Saturday that the RSF had shot civilians, sexually abused women and girls and looted properties in Gezeira province. The recent escalation has displaced over 46,000 people, the UN said.

Recent flooding over the summer in Red Sea state in eastern Sudan has also caused displacement.

On Monday, Mr Guterres said an increase in fighting between the military and the RSF was intensifying the nightmare of hunger and disease for millions.

He warned the UN security council that there was a serious risk of the 18-month civil war “igniting regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea.”