Over a thousand Sudanese refugees have reached or attempted to reach Europe in early 2025, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Friday, citing growing desperation in part due to reduced aid in the region.
Some 12 million people have been displaced by the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces © Mena Today
Over a thousand Sudanese refugees have reached or attempted to reach Europe in early 2025, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Friday, citing growing desperation in part due to reduced aid in the region.
Some 12 million people have been displaced by the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has fuelled what U.N. officials call the world's most devastating aid crisis.
While some have recently returned home to Khartoum, millions of others in neighbouring countries like Egypt and Chad face tough choices as services for refugees are being cut, including by the United States as part of an aid review.
Olga Sarrado, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson, told a press briefing in Geneva that some 484 Sudanese had arrived in Europe in January and February, up 38% from the same period last year.
Around 937 others were rescued or intercepted at sea and returned to Libya - more than double last year's figures for the same period, she added.
"As humanitarian aid crumbles and if the war does not abate, many more will have little choice than to join them," she said.
Migrant deaths hit a record last year, the U.N. migration agency said, with many perishing on the Mediterranean crossing which is one of the world's most dangerous.
Reporting by Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin
Human Rights Watch has accused an Abu Dhabi-based security company of recruiting Colombian private military contractors and deploying them to fight alongside Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) between 2024 and 2025, adding to what the rights group describes as a growing body of evidence of Emirati military support for the paramilitary group.
Farmers across Sudan say the hike in global fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from the Iran conflict will force them to cut back on planting this summer, restricting food production in a country where war has caused acute hunger.
At least nine people were killed and six others injured when a four-storey building collapsed overnight in the Moroccan city of Fez, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Rabat, local authorities said on Thursday.
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