Amid claims and counter claims, the army has been reportedly attempting to cut the supply lines of the Rapid Support Forces and defend its bases from continued attack. The RSF claimed to have captured hundreds of soldiers, following an attack on an army base.

Airstrikes and heavy fighting have left hundreds of thousands of city residents still trapped in their homes, while infrastructure and civilian areas continue to be pounded, according to eyewitness reports.

Aid reaching Khartoum

The UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told correspondents at the regular briefing in New York that the World Health Organization (WHO) had managed to deliver 30 tons of medical supplies to Al-Jazirah state, southeast of the capital, while trauma supplies to treat 2,400 people were delivered yesterday to five hospitals there, and three hospitals in the capital, Khartoum.  

“WHO also supports the delivery of critical items to its partners and has additional supplies in the pipeline. Those will be released as soon as the security situation and logistics situation allow”, he said.

Meanwhile, aid organizations have managed to resume operations in parts of Darfur, he confirmed.

“For example, in North Darfur, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has helped deliver some 235,000 liters of clean water to eight healthcare facilities and one nutrition centre. UNICEF is also distributing water, sanitation and health supplies for nearly 15,700 patients at more than a dozen healthcare facilities”, the Spokesperson said.

And in Eastern Darfur, UNICEF has provided clean water to some 40,000 people in the Elneem camp for internally displaced people. 

Shock waves spread

Shedding more light on the impact of the month-long crisis on the seven States bordering Sudan, Mr. Dujarric highlight that the UN team in Chad were reporting some 80,000 arrivals, including 60,000 refugees and 20,000 returning home.

Chad was already home to over one million forcibly displaced persons, including about 600,000 refugees, mainly from Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon and Nigeria.   

“So far, 3,000 refugee families have received non-food items from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UNICEF. UNICEF has also installed water points and distributed water treatment material, ready-to-use therapeutic food, as well as essential medicines to health centres to ensure the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.”

The UN emergency food aid agency, WFP, has distributed food and nutrition supplies to more than 20,000 new refugees in eight different locations along the eastern border, while the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, is providing dignity kits and other supplies.  

“Our team, led by Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Violet Kakyomya, is concerned about the imminent start of the rainy season, as thousands of people need transportation from border areas to other locations before roads become obstructed”, added Mr. Dujarric.

Education Cannot Wait says funds desperately needed

The UN emergency fund for education, Education Cannot Wait, has announced a $3 million grant for children seeking safety from the Sudanese conflict in Chad.

“It is imperative to provide immediate access to education for children crossing to neighbouring countries to flee the brutal conflict in Sudan,” Education Cannot Wait’s Executive Director Yasmine Sherif said on Tuesday. “This safety net is crucial to address their needs now, protect them and safeguard their futures. How can we empower new generation if we keep them away from learning.”

The funding injection brings the UN fund’s total investments to support children’s education in Chad to more than $41 million.

With children representing almost 70 per cent of refugees in Chad, “education, protection and security needs grow as people keep arriving,” said Olga Sarrado, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson.

Without access to safe and protective learning environments, uprooted girls and boys face a higher risk of child marriage, sexual violence, exploitation, hunger and recruitment by armed groups.

With coastal winds recorded at up to 250 kilometers per hour making landfall off the Bay of Bengal, the storm tore through villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, leaving villagers to piece together their ruined homes while they wait for aid and support.

According to news reports, Mocha ripped off roofs, smashed fishing boats, uprooted trees and brought down power lines and telecommunications, terrifying the population, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

Millions face hardship

“(Some) 5.4 million people are expected to have been in the path of the cyclone, said Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar. “Of these, we consider 3.1 million people to be most vulnerable to cyclone impacts by taking together indicators of shelter quality, food insecurity and poor coping capacity.

“It really is a nightmare scenario for this cyclone to hit areas with such deep pre-existing needs.”

Torrential rains and devastating floods have also increased the risk of landslides ahead of the monsoon season, the OCHA official warned.

Concerns are high because the affected areas are home to hundreds of thousands people displaced by the protracted conflict in Myanmar – many of them the mostly-Muslim Rohingya of Rakhine – exacerbated by a military coup in February 2021.

Disease threat

The “many thousands” who took refuge in evacuation centres, now face a massive cleanup and huge reconstruction effort ahead.

Both the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that relief items, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene support are urgently needed to tackle the high risk of waterborne diseases.

Health supplies have already been mobilized to treat 200,000 people, along with water purification tablets, WHO’s Dr. Edwin Salvador, Regional Emergency Director at the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, told journalists in Geneva.

“As in any flood areas where access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a challenge, there is still a risk of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis and those caused by mosquitoes such as dengue and malaria.”

Funding boost urgently required

Highlighting the urgency of the situation, OCHA appealed for international support, without delay. “We need a huge infusion of funds to respond to the massive needs,” said Mr. Balakrishnan. “Our Humanitarian Response Plan is less than 10 per cent funded as it stands now, and we simply will not be able to respond to the additional needs from Mocha.”

That appeal was echoed by the UNHCR in Bangladesh, where the 2023 funding ask for the Rohingya Refugee Response remains only 16 per cent funded.

Bangladesh camps severely hit

As a result, food assistance for refugees had to be cut by 17 per cent earlier this year, said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado. Although the impact of the cyclone could have been much worse in Bangladesh, refugee camps there have been severely affected.

Cyclones are a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean. Rising global temperatures contribute to their intensity.

“We are yet to get a full picture of the damage elsewhere in the cyclone’s path, of course, but we fear for the worst given that the majority of the shelters in this very impoverished part of the country are mostly made of bamboo, and they stood still little chance in the face of these winds,” said the UN’s Mr. Balakrishnan.

The Humanitarian Coordinator added that a community leader from one of the camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine’s shattered capital, Sittwe, reported that the storm had left a major trail of destruction and washed away shelters and latrines, leaving thousands lacking even the basics of survival.

“They said the immediate needs are shelter, clean water and sanitation” the UN official added.