UN: Rhino – After 14 months of conflict in Sudan, the rate of displacement in the country continues to rise to ‘unprecedented levels’ as the crisis continues to unfold, with cascading effects in the region and beyond, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday.

‘The rains are likely to exacerbate access challenges not only in Sudan, but also across the region – in the Central African Republic and Chad, the latter of which has already seen damage to shelters and roads due to the rains,’ the organization said in a report on Thursday.

According to IOM, more than 97 per cent of IDPs across Sudan live in areas with high levels of acute food insecurity, including hard-to-reach areas such as Darfur.

The report states: ‘Assist all populations in need by operating an integrated famine-like response that relies on safe, unimpeded humanitarian access, free from arbitrary bureaucratic barriers, through all available entry points.

Despite notable achievements in Sudan and neighboring countries, where the organization has reached more than 1.1 million people with multisectoral assistance this year, she stressed that critical gaps remain in scaling up the regional humanitarian operation.

It added that its response plan is only 21 per cent funded by mid-year, necessitating an infusion of funds to scale up the operation and meet priorities across the region.

According to MSF’s Displacement Tracking Matrix, more than ten million people have been forced to flee their homes in Sudan, split into 7.9 million people who have sought safety elsewhere in the country, and an additional 2.2 million people displaced across the border to neighboring countries.

The organization said there are growing protection concerns, especially for Ethiopian and South Sudanese migrants and refugees. Its field teams noted that the displacement crisis could be exacerbated by flooding during the rainy season between July and September.