Fighting in Sudan displaced more than 1.2 million people: UN

United Nations: Over 1.2 million people have been forced from their homes in the six weeks since the crisis in Sudan began, according to UN aid workers.

According to Xinhua news agency, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated on Wednesday that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) based its estimate on preliminary reports from field teams and that more displaced people are likely to emerge as humanitarian access improves.

"Meanwhile, we and our partners continue to deliver aid wherever and whenever we can," OCHA said.

"The World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributions in Khartoum state, reaching some 15,000 people trapped in Omdurman with emergency food."

Across Sudan, WFP reached more than 7,82,000 people with food and nutrition support over the past four weeks, the humanitarian office said.

The agency also provides emergency telecommunications services to all UN agencies and the wider humanitarian community in Sudan, where basic connectivity remains challenging.

The UN Population Fund supplies life-saving medicines and reproductive health supplies to the maternity hospital in Wad Medani in Al-Jazirah state, OCHA said.

Medical teams at the hospital also provide reproductive health services to women and girls who have fled from the capital, Khartoum.

With inputs from IANS