MORE than 400 people have been killed and over 3,500 others hurt due to the civil unrest in Sudan, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The United Nations public health agency also disclosed at least 11 attacks on health facilities had been recorded in the country since the war broke out. 

At a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, April 21, the WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: “413 have died and 3,551 people have been injured that we know of.”

“The war has not only affected the people who have been injured during this terrible fighting but the people who needed treatment before.

“It is also taking a devastating toll on the country’s children,” she added.

Also speaking on the crisis in Sudan, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said at least nine children have been killed and more than 50 wounded.

He warned that the fighting has put the lives of Sudanese children suffering from malnutrition at risk.

“Sudan already has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children in the world,” Elder told reporters. “And now critical life-saving care for an estimated 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children has been disrupted. This is life threatening.”

Elder said the children with the most critical cases of malnutrition in the country are being fed with tubes because that is the only way they can be fed.

He said, “When the bombing or shelling begins outside the hospital and where medical staff need to flee, then what?”

“We need forces to immediately cease hostilities and for all parties to respect their international obligations to protect children from harm.

“As long as fighting continues, children will continue to pay the price.

“The fighting means many families are trapped, with little or no access to electricity, terrified of running out of food, water and medicine.”

Two men are at the heart of the clashes: Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The duo have been allies until recently. They had worked together to topple the ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and played a pivotal role in the military coup in 2021.

However, the tension began during negotiations to integrate the RSF into the country’s military as part of plans to restore civilian rule. The clash between the duo and their loyalists is considered a struggle for dominance in Sudan.

Among those affected by the conflict are hundreds of Nigerians, including students, living in the country. The students have appealed to the Federal Government to evacuate them.

However, the refusal of the two sides to embrace calls for ceasefire has made it difficult to evacuate Nigerians trapped in Sudan.