More than 1,200 children have died in the past five months in conflict-wrecked Sudan, UN says

CAIRO (AP) — More than 1,200 children under age five have died in nine camps in war-scarred Sudan in the past five months, because of a deadly combination of measles and malnutrition, the United Nation's refugee agency said Tuesday.

The UNHCR said the deaths, between May 15 and September 14, were documented by its teams in the White Nile province, where thousands of Sudanese have sheltered as fighting has raged for six months between rival generals, in the capital of Khartoum and elsewhere.

There were thousands of suspected cases of cholera in other parts of the country, UNHCR public health chief Allen Maina said.

“Dozens of children are dying every day — a result of this devastating conflict and a lack of global attention,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.

Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April, when simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.

The conflict has turned the capital and other urban areas into battlefields.

At least 5,000 people have been killed and more than 12,000 others wounded, according to Volker Perthes, the UN envoy in the country, who announced his resignation last week.

The actual casualty toll, he said, is likely much higher.

More than 2.5 million people fled their homes, including more than 1 million who crossed into Sudan's neighbouring countries, according to the UN's migration agency.

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