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IOM: Tens of Thousands in Sudan Risk Death if World Doesn’t Step Up Response

Sudanese already displaced by conflict, walk near tents at a makeshift campsite they were evacuated to following deadly floods in the eastern city of Kassala on August 12, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese already displaced by conflict, walk near tents at a makeshift campsite they were evacuated to following deadly floods in the eastern city of Kassala on August 12, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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IOM: Tens of Thousands in Sudan Risk Death if World Doesn’t Step Up Response

Sudanese already displaced by conflict, walk near tents at a makeshift campsite they were evacuated to following deadly floods in the eastern city of Kassala on August 12, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese already displaced by conflict, walk near tents at a makeshift campsite they were evacuated to following deadly floods in the eastern city of Kassala on August 12, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) urged countries to step up their donations in response to the world's largest displacement crisis in Sudan, warning on Tuesday that inaction could cost tens of thousands of lives.

The IOM has received just 21% of the support it needs to provide crucial aid to the Sudanese, already plagued by conflict and now facing hunger, disease and floods, Mohamed Refaat, who leads the IOM's Sudan mission, told a briefing.

"The international community is not doing enough," Refaat said.

"Without an immediate massive and coordinated global response, we risk witnessing tens of thousands of preventable deaths in the coming months," he added.

Some one in five people have been displaced in Sudan, with 10.7 million people internally displaced and 2.3 million having fled across borders, Reuters quoted the IOM as saying.

A conflict in Sudan that erupted in April 2023 has unleashed waves of ethnic violence and created famine-like conditions across the country.

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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)

France said Tuesday it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials a day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials in escalating tensions between the two countries.

Algeria said Monday that its expulsion of 12 French officials was over the arrest of an Algerian consular official by French authorities in a kidnapping case, but relations between the two sides have been deteriorating since last summer. That's when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria.

Tensions further peaked in November after Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of the Algerian regime. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison — a verdict he subsequently appealed.

In addition to what French officials called the "symmetrically" calibrated expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, France's ambassador to Algiers also was being recalled home for consultations, a statement from the French presidential palace said Tuesday.

It said Algerian authorities were responsible for "a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations."

French counterterrorism prosecutors said three Algerian nationals in total were arrested last week and handed preliminary charges of "kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

The group is allegedly involved in the April 2024 kidnapping of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, or Amir DZ, a known critic of the Algerian government with 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

The latest surge in acrimony followed a brief easing of tensions about two weeks ago when French President Emmanuel Macron called Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French officials said they had agreed to revive bilateral relations.