More than 16,000 people have been displaced by violence in several areas of war-hit Sudan over the course of a week, according to figures released by the United Nations' migration agency on Wednesday.
Clashes between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war since April 2023, have intensified in the country's west and south in recent weeks.
Since losing control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has sought to claim territory in Sudan's far-flung regions, cutting off army supply lines while consolidating its own.
Nearly 11,000 people were displaced from 10 villages in Al Quoz locality in South Kordofan between Thursday and Saturday due to "increased insecurity", the UN's International Organization for Migration said.
RSF seizes border area
Al Quoz lies just south of the major army-controlled town of El-Obeid, the only crossroads between Khartoum and the western Darfur region, nearly all of which is under RSF control.
In the northern gateway to Darfur, in the border area between Sudan, Libya and Egypt, a further 4,278 people were displaced between June 15 and 17 due to reported clashes between the army and paramilitaries, the IOM said on Wednesday.
The RSF seized the strategic border area known as Al-Muthallath on Saturday, after the army announced its retreat.
The 700 kilometres that separate the border from North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, the only major town in Darfur the RSF has not managed to conquer, is a key desert supply route for fuel, munitions and personnel.
Displacement crisis
The RSF has besieged El-Fasher for over a year, regularly attacking the town and the famine-hit displacement camps that surround it.
Between June 10 and 11, an estimated 1,000 people were displaced from El-Fasher and the Abu Shouk displacement camp, according to IOM figures.
Sudan is the world's largest displacement crisis, with over 10 million people internally displaced in a massive humanitarian crisis.
A further four million people have fled across borders since the war began.
