An estimated five million children displaced by Sudan's civil war

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell visited a boys' school in Kassala State this week to help bring attention to the dire situation in Sudan. According to the UN children's body, an estimated 10 million people - half of them children - have been displaced in Sudan following a brutal civil war.

More than 150-thousand people are believed to have died. During the visit Russell called for urgent action to safeguard children and essential services.

Sudan plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a struggle for power broke out between its army and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur region - with fears for the residents of city of el-Fasher after it was recently captured by the RSF.

According to UNICEF, more than 30 million people require humanitarian assistance. They say children are trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, including in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, are especially vulnerable, where access to food, water and medical supplies remains practically cut off.

Recent attacks on 8th December also directly hit a kindergarten in South Kordofan and killed at least 63 children.

UNICEF also says that women and girls are bearing the brunt of the crisis, including horrific levels of sexual violence.

During her visit to Kassala, Russell also met women and adolescent girls receiving psychosocial support and skills training at a UNICEF-supported centre.

Many fled violence and found care and safety at the centre, but similar services are extremely limited in Darfur and Kordofan states due to ongoing insecurity. Famine has been declared in parts of Darfur and Kordofan regions, with the risk of spreading.

Families attempting to flee face dangerous routes, and those who reach safer areas often arrive severely malnourished, sick and distressed. Russell also visited As-Senniya internally displaced people’s site in Port Sudan where UNICEF has aid projects.

The UN body says it is helping to identify and registrar unaccompanied and separated children, with more than 200 reunifications in North Darfur. It is also providing child protection, psychological care, training and cash for survivors as well as the restoration of safe water and medical clinics.

UNICEF has called for an immediate end to the violence and for all parties to uphold international humanitarian law, "ensuring the safety and dignity of every child and civilian."