Nearly 100,000 Sudanese flee to Libya

International NGOs are warning of a worsening refugee crisis in Libya as nearly 100,000 fled violence in war-torn Sudan to seek relative safety in conflict-stricken Libya.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) announced an emergency response to help nearly 100,000 Sudanese in Libya with 2,500 to 3,000 more people expected to reach the region daily in the coming months.

“People from Sudan have faced unimaginable trauma whilst fleeing conflict. They arrive in southern Libya severely traumatized, malnourished and often needing medical care,” said Jared Rowell, Country Director for IRC Libya, in a statement.

“Our teams have reported that large numbers of families, along with unaccompanied children and survivors of gender-based violence, are arriving in Libya. This situation underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive protection response,” he said.

Sudan has become home to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the World in the wake of the outbreak of a civil war in April last year between the paramilitary RSF and the army.

The war left nearly half Sudan’s 48 million population suffering from hunger in areas including the capital Khartum, according to the latest figures from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a group of experts from U.N. bodies and major relief agencies that measures hunger and formally declares famine.

Some 2 million people have crossed the border to flee the ongoing civil war, UNHCR said.

The UN said it has received only 17% of the 2.7 billion dollars needed to address the humanitarian situation in Sudan.