UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Military clashes in Sudan are responsible for the largest number of displaced persons on Earth and disrupting the fight against a deadly cholera outbreak, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.
"The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is deeply concerned by the scale of displacement in Sudan due to the spreading conflict, which has fueled the largest displacement crisis in the world," the office said. "Since April, more than 6 million people have been displaced inside the country, including more than 500,000 due to the clashes that erupted in Aj Jazirah State last month."
The humanitarians said more than 1.3 million others fled across Sudan's borders to become refugees in the adjacent states of Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
OCHA said it is also alarmed the violence is disrupting critical humanitarian operations, including the fight against a worsening cholera outbreak.
The World Health Organization and Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health reported nearly 9,000 suspected cases, including 245 deaths, in nine states, an increase of more than 40 percent compared to the caseload one month ago.
Fighting broke out on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces militia in the capital of Khartoum and quickly expanded to other areas across the country.
OCHA's Relief Web said that since the conflict broke out, humanitarian needs have increased, and almost 25 million people now require assistance in Sudan. ■
