In their coverage of Europe's migrant crisis due to the protracted civil war within Sudan, Africa, BBC News reports that a boat has sunk off of Tunisia with 40 Sudanese migrants on board.
Officials have reported that 13 are confirmed dead with 27 others reported missing. However, two individuals have survived and search operations are already being conducted.
Displaced Civilians
The Civil Conflict in Sudan began 10 months ago in April and has displaced 9 million people, at the time of writing, from their homes. Many have fled to safer areas within the country or neighboring territories. Several foreign governments such as the United Kingdom have already taken action and evacuated their nationals who were stranded in the country following the start of the conflict.
The two parties involved are the army and a rival paramilitary force. In 2023, it was reported that 2,498 migrants died in their attempts to make their way across the Mediterranean, and according to the International Organization for Migration that is a 75% increase.
The latest incident took place after the boat had left Jebiniana a small town near the city of Sfax. A Judicial spokesman Tunisian city of Monastir, Farid Ben Jha, has stated that an investigation is also being conducted and was quoted by the AFP news outlet stating that the migrants were likely "exploited in a human trafficking case or in the formation of a criminal group to reach Europe illegally"
The UN has also reported that they have appealed a $4.1BN plan to aid the civilians of Sudan in their humanitarian efforts. UN agencies have also reported that an estimated 25 million people have fled the territory. That equates to about half of Sudan's population. Martin Griffiths also shared some insight into the conflict as it's seemingly being overshadowed by the ongoing conflicts in both Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
Griffiths stated the following "There is a certain kind of obscenity about the humanitarian world, which is the competition of suffering, a competition between places: 'I have more suffering than you, so I need to get more attention, so I need to get more money." In addition, two UN peacekeepers have been killed as a result of the conflict according to another report from Reuters.
