Sudan War Risks "Generational Catastrophe" For 24 Million Children: UN

The nine-month war between Sudan's rival generals could create a "generational catastrophe" for the country's 24 million children, UNICEF's representative in Sudan has told AFP.

"The conflict in Sudan is severely putting at risk the health and wellbeing of Sudan's 24 million children," Mandeep O'Brien said in an interview late Thursday.

The fighting will not only have a serious impact on the future of Sudan, but will also "heavily (affect) the wider region", O'Brien said.

Since mid-April, Sudan has been gripped by war pitting army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The war has claimed at least 12,190 lives according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, and the United Nations says more than seven million people have been displaced.

They include 3.5 million children, according to O'Brien, leaving Sudan facing "the largest displacement crisis in the world".

If the bloody power struggle continues, the impact on the country -- already one of the poorest in the world -- will be "unthinkable", O'Brien said.

"Sudan needs peace to avert a generational catastrophe," she said.

"The future of the country is at stake: almost 20 million children in Sudan will not go to school this year without urgent action."

Few areas of the country of 48 million inhabitants have been spared from violence, shortages and looting, with 14 million children in need of emergency humanitarian aid, according to O'Brien.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)