The number of displaced people across Sudan’s Kordofan states has risen to 88,316 within the past two months due to ongoing fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Tuesday.
In a statement, the agency said it had recorded the displacement of approximately 88,316 individuals from the Kordofan region across 69 locations between October 25, 2025, and January 2026, driven by escalating insecurity.
According to the IOM, most of the displaced moved toward Sheikan and Al-Rahad localities in North Kordofan and White Nile states, both under army control.
The agency added that 62% of the displaced originated from North Kordofan, followed by South Kordofan with 37%, while West Kordofan accounted for less than 1%.
At the same time, the UN-affiliated organization stated that more than three million displaced Sudanese have managed to return home despite continued heavy fighting in parts of the country.
Intensified clashes across Kordofan
Since October 2025, the three Kordofan states — North, South, and West — have witnessed fierce battles between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, which had by then seized full control of all five states in Sudan’s Darfur region to the west, bordering Kordofan.
Currently, the RSF controls the administrative centers of all five Darfur states (out of Sudan’s 18 in total), while the army maintains control over most of the remaining 13 states spanning the south, north, east, and central regions of the country, including the capital, Khartoum.
An earlier UN assessment estimated that more than 64,000 people were displaced in the Kordofan states between October 25 and December 30, 2025, amid worsening insecurity.
On Monday, the Sudanese army announced that it had recaptured the city of Dilling, the second-largest city in South Kordofan State, following a two-year siege imposed by the RSF and its allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) faction.
Ongoing war and humanitarian crisis
Since April 2023, the RSF and the army have been locked in a devastating conflict sparked by disputes over integrating RSF fighters into the national military. The war has plunged Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with widespread famine, tens of thousands killed, and nearly 14 million people displaced.
Source: Anadolu Agency