PORT SUDAN, Sudan (AFP)— More than 10 million people have been displaced within war-torn Sudan, according to figures released on Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Since the war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, 7.26 million people have fled their homes, adding to 2.83 million already displaced by previous conflicts, the IOM said.

The UN has repeatedly warned that Sudan is facing the world’s worst displacement crisis, as the war shows no signs of abating and the spectre of famine haunts the country.

Over a quarter of the country’s 48 million people have now been forced to flee their homes, with over two million crossing international borders.

Around 3.7 million people — over a third of all the displaced — have escaped from the devastated capital Khartoum alone, a city that is now a shell of its former self and divided between the warring parties.

In a little over a year, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, including up to 15,000 in a single West Darfur town.

However, the overall death toll remains unclear, with some estimates of up to 150,000, according to the US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello.

Millions more could die as the humanitarian crisis worsens, aid groups and experts have warned.

Within Sudan, 70 per cent of those displaced “are now trying to survive in places that are at risk of famine”, the IOM has warned.

The UN says 18 million people in Sudan are acutely hungry, with 3.6 million children acutely malnourished.

Some 55 per cent of Sudan’s displaced people are children under 18 years old, and approximately a quarter are under five, the IOM added.

Aid agencies say a lack of data has prevented an official declaration of a famine, while the UN accuses both sides of “systematic obstructions and deliberate denials” of humanitarian access.