More than 9,000 displaced from South Kordofan, Blue Nile states in Sudan: IOM

Adel Abdel Rahim and Lina Altawell

​​​​​​​The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Thursday that 9,420 people were displaced from Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states due to deteriorating security conditions.

The figures came in two separate statements by the UN migration agency on displacement movements in the two states amid rising security tensions and recent fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Field teams from the agency’s displacement tracking initiative estimated that an additional 6,420 people were displaced from nine villages in the Al-Abbasiya locality in South Kordofan between Sept. 1 and 2, the IOM said. The affected families moved to safer areas within Al-Abbasiya locality, it added.

In a separate statement, the agency estimated that 3,000 people—representing around 500 families—were displaced from three villages in the Al-Kurmuk locality in Blue Nile state due to worsening insecurity on Aug. 31. Those families fled to Bau locality in the same state, the IOM said.

The agency noted that the situation “remains tense and volatile,” adding that it continues to monitor developments closely.

Blue Nile state has witnessed a sharp military escalation in recent days following joint attacks on several areas by the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

On Tuesday, the UN reported that 22,000 people had been displaced in Blue Nile state due to intensified fighting in Qaysan locality over the preceding seven days. On the same day, the IOM recorded another 730 people displaced from five villages in South Kordofan’s Al-Abbasiya locality.

Sudan’s three Kordofan states—North, West, and South Kordofan—have been gripped by severe clashes between the army and the RSF since October 2025.

Sudan has been embroiled in civil war between the military and the RSF since April 2023, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced approximately 13 million, according to UN estimates.