More than 800,000 people may flee Sudan as a result of the ongoing conflict, the United Nations refugee agency has said, including Sudanese nationals and thousands of existing refugees living temporarily in the country, transmits Aljazeera.
“In consultation with all concerned governments and partners, we’ve arrived at a planning figure of 815,000 people that may flee into the seven neighbouring countries,” Raouf Mazou, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for refugees, told a member-state briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
Some 73,000 have already left Sudan, he added.
Mazou’s estimate includes approximately 580,000 Sudanese, while the others are refugees who had settled in the country for safety.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi later said the planning figure was indicative. “We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if violence doesn’t stop we will see more people forced to flee Sudan seeking safety,” he said in a tweet.