عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

UN Migration Agency Says the Number of Internally Displaced People in Sudan Has Surpassed 10 Million

South Sudanese who fled from Sudan sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, May 16, 2023. (AP)
South Sudanese who fled from Sudan sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, May 16, 2023. (AP)
TT
TT

UN Migration Agency Says the Number of Internally Displaced People in Sudan Has Surpassed 10 Million

South Sudanese who fled from Sudan sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, May 16, 2023. (AP)
South Sudanese who fled from Sudan sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, May 16, 2023. (AP)

The number of internally displaced people in Sudan has reached more than 10 million, the UN migration agency told The Associated Press on Monday.

The International Organization for Migration said the tally includes 2.83 million driven from their homes before the current war began by multiple local conflicts that have been happening in recent years.

More than 2 million other people have been driven abroad, mostly to neighboring Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, IOM spokesman Mohammedali Abunajela told the AP.

Sudan’s conflict began in April last year when soaring tensions between the leaders of the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

“Imagine a city the size of London being displaced. That’s what it’s like, but it’s happening with the constant threat of crossfire, with famine, disease and brutal ethnic and gender-based violence,” said IOM Director-General Amy Pope in a statement.

The UN food agency warned the warring parties last month that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in the western region of Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don’t allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.

Pope called for a unified response from the international community to avoid “a looming famine” in Sudan, where humanitarian needs are “massive, acute and immediate.” She said less than one-fifth of the funds IOM has sought for the response have been delivered.

The war has wrecked Sudan, killing more than 14,000 people and wounding thousands others, while pushing its population to the brink of famine.

Together, the number of refugees and internally displaced means that more than a quarter of Sudan’s population of 47 million have been driven from their homes.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
TT
TT

Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."
The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe, The Associated Press said.
The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.
Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.
In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”
One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.
“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.
Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”
Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”
Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.
After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.
“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.
“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”
The future of Syria is still unclear, as the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.
Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."