UN appeals to nations bordering Sudan to keep borders open

The UNHCR’s high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, has encouraged the nations bordering Sudan, which has been shook by conflict for the past two months, to “keep their borders open” after revealing that more than 500,000 people have fled the nation.

Mr. Grandi, who was in Nairobi to commemorate World Refugee Day, urged all of the neighboring nations, “I understand your security concerns, but please keep your borders open because these are people fleeing for their lives.”

Mr Grandi also announced that the number of people who had fled Sudan to seek refuge abroad had now exceeded 500,000, and that the number of displaced persons in the country had reached two million.

According to the NGO ACLED, the fighting in Sudan between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhane, and the paramilitary rapid support forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, has killed over 2,000 people.

Over 150,000 people have reportedly fled Darfur for neighboring Chad, one of the world’s least developed nations, which is already sheltering tens of thousands of refugees, mostly from Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Many Sudanese have also escaped to Egypt and South Sudan.

“This must stop, because it risks having incalculable consequences in the region and beyond”, pleaded the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.

The international communityon Monday pledged some 1.5 billion dollars to assist Sudan, a sum that represents only half of the total that humanitarian agencies estimate they need.

Filippo Grandi called on the international community to give more, comparing it to the military expenditure committed by the states.