Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes, said projections of growing numbers of people trying to escape the fighting have sharply spiked, triggering an urgent demand for humanitarian assistance.

Balde said one of the deeply distressing consequences of the crisis is that many refugee children die of diseases that are entirely preventable. He called on the international community to unite and immediately provide financial assistance to the countries receiving Sudanese refugees to carry out relief work.

According to a report by the UN and several international organizations, the five-month conflict between Sudan's Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces has killed about 5,000 people, mainly civilians, and forced 4.6 million people to flee.

About 1.8 million of them have gone to neighboring countries, including the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, causing an overcrowding of foreign refugees in these countries.