15,000 Sudanese households flee clashes in North Darfur town: UN

The UN migration agency said Monday that 15,000 households were displaced from the town of Al-Malha in North Darfur State in western Sudan due to the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement, adding that residents primarily fled to other locations within the Al-Malha locality in the state between March 20 and 21.

Al-Malha, located 200 kilometers from El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, serves as a strategic supply route connecting Sudan's western areas with the country's north and east.

On Friday, the Sudanese Doctors Network group said that 48 people were killed and 63 others injured in an attack by the RSF on Al-Malha town.

Over the past few weeks, the territorial control of the RSF has been shrinking rapidly in favor of the Sudanese army across several states, including Khartoum, Al-Jazira, White Nile, North Kordofan, Sennar, and Blue Nile.

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

The international community and the UN have called for an end to the war, warning of an impending humanitarian catastrophe as millions face famine and death due to food shortages. The conflict has spread to 13 of Sudan's 18 states.