from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – SCORES of children have been killed since the beginning of the year during the worsening civil war in Sudan.
In the most recent documented mass killings, an unspecified number of children were among at least 120 people killed following shelling in Omdurman on January 13 and 14.
Between 7 and 8 January, 23 children were killed and nine injured by shelling in Khartoum State.
“These are only a few examples of unconscionable violence against children,” noted Edouard Beigbeder, director for Middle East and North Africa at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The envoy spoke at the conclusion of his visit to the troubled country, where war began in April 2023.
Thousands of children have been killed or injured, and sexual violence and child recruitment have been widely reported since then.
Beigbeder disclosed that as the conflict spread into new areas between June and December 2024, more than 600 incidents of grave violations against children were reported.
A concerning 80 percent of them were accounts of killing and maiming, primarily in Darfur, Kordofan and Khartoum.
UNICEF estimates that 770 000 children under five will suffer from the deadliest form of malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition, in 2025.
Beigbeder noted UNICEF continued calls on the government of Sudan, and all other concerned parties, to help ensure humanitarians had safe access to children in Sudan.
“An end to the conflict is the only way to ensure that the children of Sudan can access lifesaving humanitarian aid, regain a sense of safety, and have a chance at rebuilding their futures free from the horrors of war,” Beigbeder said.
– CAJ News