2.6.6. Conflict-induced displacement and return

According to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Data, as of 3 December 2024, there were almost 1.8 million IDPs documented in the East, of those 1 159 414 in Gedaref state, 351 912 in Kassala and 282 159 in Red Sea state. Almost half of the IDPs in Gedaref state originated from Khartoum (48 %), while the second-largest group of the state’s IDP population originated from Al Jazirah (38 %) and the third-largest group from Sennar state (11 %). Close to half of the IDPs in Kassala were from Al Jazirah (49 %) while about 46 % originated from Khartoum and the third-largest group originated from Sennar state (4 %). Almost half of the IDPs in Red Sea were from Khartoum (46 %) while about 25 % originated from Al Jazirah. 12 % originated from the state itself and another 8 % originated from Sennar state.1021

Table 6. This table provides information collected by IOM field teams on displacement since 15 April 2023 at state level. It disaggregates data into states of origin and displacement. This table only displays the state of origin with the highest percentage of IDPs in each state of displacement.1022

Kassala state, which has ‘remained relatively unaffected by the ongoing conflict’, has received a large number of IDPs from the western and central states, as well as refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia, mainly Tigrayans. Kassala state was also home to one of the country’s largest refugee camps Al Shagarab, near the state capital.1023 According to a local quoted in an Al-Hurra article, Gedaref state was hosting thousands of people who had fled the conflict in Khartoum and Al Jazirah.1024 New displacement movements to eastern Sudan were reportedly caused by clashes and the RSF’s takeover of large parts of Sennar state in early July 2024, ‘further straining already overcrowded reception sites in eastern Sudan’.1025 In mid-August 2024, the Sudan Tribune reported continued displacement from conflict areas, particularly Sennar state, into Gedaref and Kassala states.1026 In late October 2024, Radio Dabanga reported continued displacement movements to Gedaref and Kassala states due to clashes in eastern Al Jazirah state.1027 Mass attacks targeting civilians there led to the displacement of over 135 000 people mainly fleeing to Gedaref, Kassala and River Nile states. Of those, an estimated 14 000 people arrived in seven locations in Gedaref alone.1028

In March 2024, MSF reported of worsening living conditions for displaced persons, including overcrowded shelters and inadequate health services, which threatened the spread of diseases, such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery.1029 Sources reported that IDPs in Kassala were experiencing widespread food insecurity and limited access to clean water as a result of the humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing conflict in the country.1030

Following the SAF’s recapture of Sinja, the capital of Sennar state, on 23 November 2024,1031 an article in Al Taghyeer in late November reported that busses organised by humanitarian organisations were returning IDPs, who had fled to Kassala state, to cities in Sennar state.1032