Sudan’s strategic city of el-Obeid has emerged as a major flashpoint in the country’s civil war, with escalating clashes forcing more than 11,000 people, including over 5,500 children, to flee in the past two weeks.
The United Nations has warned that as many as 500,000 civilians could be at risk if violence around the city continues to intensify, raising fears of another humanitarian crisis.
While much of the conflict has focused on Khartoum and the Darfur region, recent fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has shifted attention to the Kordofan region, where el-Obeid is a strategic hub.
Humanitarian organisations say repeated displacement is leaving families without access to education, healthcare, clean water and other essential services.
Save the Children warned that thousands more civilians, particularly children, could be forced to flee unless humanitarian access improves and efforts are made to protect civilians from the escalating conflict.
