Sudan’s Red Sea State appeals for int’l aid as displaced population surges

PORT SUDAN, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — The government of Sudan’s Red Sea State on Tuesday urged the international community and humanitarian organizations to support its efforts to provide basic needs for thousands of displaced people in the region.
“The state is hosting large numbers of displaced people, and the number is still increasing,” Minister of Social Welfare in the Red Sea State Ilham Idris Gasmalla told Xinhua.
“We provide whatever support we can to this large population, but there is a shortage of services, which we are working to address,” she said.
Gasmalla appealed for international assistance, emphasizing the urgent need for shelter materials, medical supplies, and environmental sanitation resources for the displaced.
“There is a severe shortage of tents, and with the rainy season beginning in the Red Sea State, we urgently need medicines to combat expected seasonal epidemics, such as fever, along with sanitation and disease control supplies,” she said.
Gasmalla noted efforts by the federal government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission and the state government to meet the basic needs of the displaced. The local government has allocated 80 centers in Port Sudan, the state capital, to accommodate around 21,000 displaced families, totaling approximately 105,000 individuals.
Port Sudan also hosts around 44,448 displaced families, or nearly 222,240 people, who are being sheltered by local households, with an average of five people per family.
Sudan has been mired in conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since mid-April 2023. As of Oct. 14, more than 24,850 lives had been lost, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, while the International Organization for Migration estimated that over 14 million people had been displaced within or outside Sudan as of Oct. 29. ■