IOM Launch Urgent Appeal To Support Humanitarian Operations In Khartoum

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) GENEVA, Sept 9 (KUNA) - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday launched an urgent appeal for 29 million dollars in flexible funding to expand its humanitarian and recovery operations in Khartoum as more than two million people have returned to the city amid the ongoing war in Sudan.
In a statement issued in Geneva the UN agency also announced the reopening of its office in Khartoum to scale up humanitarian and recovery efforts making it the first United Nations agency to re-establish a presence in the city since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023.
IOM Director General Amy Pope said "Movement back to urban areas is accelerating, yet conditions remain volatile placing enormous pressure on already overstretched social support networks and local capacities."
According to the statement the number of returnees to the capital is expected to reach 2.1 million this year compared to about five million who were displaced from Khartoum at the height of the fighting.
IOM noted that this return trend is not limited to (Khartoum). Between November 2024 and July 2025 nearly two million people returned across 1.611 locations in Al Jazirah, Sennar, Blue Nile, White Nile, River Nile and West Darfur states with three out of four returnees coming from within Sudan.
The organization warned "many families arrive to find homes that are damaged or uninhabitable. Electricity and clean water remain scarce. Health care is limited and the risk of cholera persists. Unexploded ordnance continues to endanger civilians in residential areas, near schools, and along access roads."
It further stressed that the conflict is far from over particularly in Kordofan and Darfur where ongoing violence including the second year of the siege of El Fasher has led to catastrophic humanitarian conditions and famine for those unable to escape.
According to IOM insecurity access restrictions and limited funding in Darfur continue to impede its own operations as well as those of other humanitarian organizations threatening to undo fragile recovery gains.
The war in Sudan has turned millions of lives upside down with over 14.2 million people displaced since its outbreak 10 million inside the country and 4.2 million across borders.
IOM urged all parties to facilitate safe sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to alleviate civilian suffering. (end)
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