KHARTOUM, Feb 10, 2026 (V7N) — More than 100,000 people have fled Sudan’s conflict-hit Kordofan region since October as fighting escalates across the vast southern area, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

According to data released by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), an estimated 115,223 people were displaced from North, South and West Kordofan between October 25 and February 5. The rise in displacement followed more than 80 violent incidents recorded across the three states during the period.

Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, with fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, forced more than 11 million from their homes and triggered what the UN has described as one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

The IOM said the recent exodus from Kordofan came as the RSF shifted its focus to the region after taking control of El-Fasher in neighbouring Darfur in October. El-Fasher had been the Sudanese army’s last major stronghold in Darfur.

The fall of El-Fasher forced at least 127,000 people to flee and was accompanied by reports of killings, sexual violence, abductions and widespread looting. The UN has repeatedly warned that similar patterns of violence could spread to Kordofan, which has now emerged as a key battleground in the wider conflict.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Monday that nearly 100 civilians were killed and 142 injured in drone strikes in Kordofan in the two weeks leading up to February 6. He noted that attacks by both sides hit markets, residential areas, health facilities and even a World Food Programme convoy in North and South Kordofan.

Kordofan’s strategic location — between RSF-controlled Darfur to the west and army-held areas of the Nile Valley to the east and north — has left the region increasingly exposed as both sides compete for territorial control, the UN said.

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