PORT SUDAN: The nine-month war between Sudan’s rival generals could create a “generational catastrophe” for the country’s 24 million children, Unicef’s representative in Sudan has said.

“The conflict in Sudan is severely putting at risk the health and wellbeing of Sudan’s 24 million children,” Mandeep O’Brien said in an interview with AFP late Thursday.

The fighting will not only have a serious impact on the future of Sudan, but will also “heavily (affect) the wider region”, O’Brien said.

Since mid-April, Sudan has been gripped by war pitting army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The war has claimed at least 12,190 lives according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, and the United Nations says more than seven million people have been displaced.

They include 3.5 million children, according to O’Brien, leaving Sudan facing “the largest displacement crisis in the world”.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024