Kaya Refugee Camp / Maban County (South Sudan)Reuters – Amina looked on with red, expressionless eyes as she spoke softly and sadly, recalling the day her 17-year-old son was killed in the city of Sinja in southeastern Sudan.She was trying to flee with her five children when gunfire erupted near her home, but her son Ahmed was caught in the crossfire.Amina (52) told Reuters, placing her hand on her heart while sitting in Kaya refugee camp on the other side of the border in Maban County, Upper Nile State, South Sudan, “They shot him in the chest… He breathed his last in my arms halfway through.”His older brother carried Ahmed’s body to a field, where the family buried him together in a shallow grave before continuing their six-day journey to the border.Amina, Ahmed, and other refugees in Kaya camp mentioned in this report are pseudonyms to protect their identities.At a time when the world’s attention is focused on conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, a grinding crisis is unfolding in Sudan, where children, the most vulnerable in society, bear the brunt of the violence.
The war in Sudan has produced the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with about five million children forced to flee since fighting began 18 months ago.Thousands of other children, like Ahmed, have lost their lives.The survivors face a future that seems bleak.Dozens of Sudanese refugees cross the border into camps in South Sudan every day, carrying painful memories that reveal the harsh impact of the conflict on children.Famine is spreading in parts of Sudan, and children are suffering from severe malnutrition.
Millions of children are deprived of education and healthcare, and many face sexual violence, exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups.Aid agencies are struggling to address the humanitarian crisis in Sudan due to lack of foreign aid and obstacles to delivering assistance because of the intensity of fighting and targeting of aid workers and supplies. These agencies warn that the consequences could be catastrophic for Sudan’s children.Mohamed Abdel Latif, the interim director of Save the Children in Sudan, said, “Children’s lives in Sudan have been completely destroyed and changed forever, with unimaginable losses, physical and emotional pain, and widespread violations of their rights.”He added that children are “hungry and afraid, living day by day with parents in distress, struggling to meet their needs. A generation has not yet been lost, but without help, it may indeed be lost.”
Source Reuters Arabic
