On World Refugee Day, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was in Nairobi, Kenya.
Filippo Grandi expressed his regret for the effects of the crisis in Sudan, which has compelled 500,000 people to leave Sudan, during a press conference on Tuesday, June 20. Two million more people are internally displaced.
“It’s a worrying situation because we haven’t seen much progress so far, if any, in the negotiations between the two generals who are fighting in the country’, he later said during an interview.
“We are unfortunately gradually witnessing the destruction of this country.”
Grandi was speaking a day after donors at a UN summit donated over $1.5 billion to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan and assist its neighbours, particularly Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt, in hosting refugees fleeing the violence.
Grandi urged the world community to do more, noting that donations were a small portion of what wealthy countries spent on defence, which was less than half of what humanitarians have estimated is needed this year.
“I’m not saying that military spending isn’t necessary, that’s not my field and I understand the logic, but humanitarian aid is a tiny, tiny fraction of all that.
“I can’t believe that we can’t make a bit more of an effort,” he said, urging Gulf states in particular to do more.
Despite concerns about security, the director of the UN agency for refugees pleaded with Sudan’s neighbours to keep their borders open.
”My appeal to all the neighboring countries is the following: ‘I understand your security concerns, but please keep your borders open, because these people are really fleeing for their lives.'”
The Egyptian foreign ministry used a crackdown on “illegal activities” in early June, including fraud, as justification for reversing the visa exemption for minors, women, and the elderly.
All residents of the nearby Sudan will now require visas in order to enter the country.
Since April 15, the army of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
According to the most recent statistics from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, the number of fatalities in Sudan has surpassed 2,000.
To “support his government’s efforts to turn camps into integrated settlements, a pioneering approach to the protection and inclusion of refugees — and in recognition of Africa’s hospitality to those who flee,” the official tweeted, Filippo Grandi observed Wo
