700 Sudanese families flee North Kordofan clashes, UN migration agency says

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has forced 700 households to flee North Kordofan State in southern Sudan, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday.

“700 households were displaced from several locations across Bara town in Bara locality, North Kordofan, due to heightened insecurity,” the IOM said in a statement.

“The situation remains tense and highly fluid,” it added.

Sudanese forces are seeking to recapture Bara, a main stronghold of the RSF in North Kordofan, and violent clashes have erupted between the two sides in recent days.

Bara's importance lies in its strategic location linking the Kordofan in southern Sudan and Darfur in western Sudan to the capital Khartoum via a national road leading to Omdurman, west of Khartoum.

The army and RSF have been fighting a war since mid-April 2023 that has killed more than 20,000 victims and displaced 14 million, according to the UN and local authorities. Research from US universities, however, estimates the death toll at around 130,000.