UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A UN spokesman said on Thursday he has received "horrifying reports... about a high number of casualties" from a rebel attack on a village in Sudan's Gezira State.
More than 100 people were killed in Wad Al-Noura village in attacks beginning on Wednesday by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), media reports said.
"The resident and humanitarian coordinator, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, expressed her shock at the events," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "She said that we have received credible reports of heavy gunfire and the use of explosive weapons in populated civilian areas where the RSF have confirmed they have been involved in ground operations."
Dujarric said the special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Alice Nderitu, called for a thorough and impartial investigation to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
He also said that the International Organization for Migration warns that the number of people displaced by conflict inside Sudan could top 10 million in the coming days.
"This includes 2.8 million men, women and children that were displaced prior to the start of this phase of the conflict in April 2023, and 7.1 million since that date," Dujarric said. "More than half of all internally displaced people are women and girls, and over a quarter of those displaced are children under 5 years old."
He said 2 million people have fled to neighboring countries, mainly in Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.
"Our colleagues at the World Food Programme (WFP) are urgently expanding emergency food and nutrition assistance in Sudan amid the looming threat of famine, as conditions for civilians continue to deteriorate," the spokesman said.
He said the scale-up aims to provide life-saving food and nutrition assistance to an additional 5 million people by the end of the year, doubling the number of people that the WFP had planned to support at the start of the year. The agency will provide cash assistance to 1.2 million people in 12 states of Sudan, giving a vital boost to local markets and food producers. ■
