The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that 6,000 families had been displaced from Tekina town, north of Gezira state in central Sudan, ‘as a result of attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)’.

IOM said in a statement: ‘According to our information, an estimated 6,000 families were displaced from Tekina town and surrounding villages in Gezira State on 20 November due to attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The statement added: ‘The displaced families sought shelter in places within Al-Hasahisa town in Al-Jazeera state, East Nile areas in Khartoum, and River Nile state (North).

Since mid-April last year, the army and RSF have been engaged in an armed conflict that has left more than 20,000 people dead and more than 13 million displaced and refugees, according to UN and local estimates.

UN and international calls are growing for an end to the conflict, which has spread to 13 of the country’s 18 states, to avert a humanitarian catastrophe that has already pushed millions to the brink of starvation and death from lack of food.