UN official says Sudan IDP women in desperate need of protection

A United Nations official returning from Sudan described on Friday how women and girls fleeing the civil war there had been "stripped bare of their basic necessities," struggling for food, water and safety.

"We all know that war is ugly, but this is one of the ugliest situations that I have ever witnessed in my entire life," said Laila Baker, a regional director at the UN Population Fund.

"Picture thousands of women crowded into a shelter where (there is) no clean water, no hygiene, not enough food for their next meal, no medical care," she said.

More than 16 months of war between rival Sudanese generals has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered what the United Nations calls the world's worst internal displacement crisis, with more than 10 million affected.

"The conflict is driving a stake into the heart of Sudan," said Baker, denouncing the underfunding of humanitarian aid efforts.

Speaking via video link from Jordan, Baker spoke of an encounter with a 20-year-old woman as she sat on the floor of an overcrowded shelter in Port Sudan.

"She was shy, and I asked her to come and sit next to me," the UN official said. "She very gently whispered in my ear: 'I was raped.'"

Baker's voice trembled as she recalled the conversation with the woman, Sana, who told her she had been raped "fleeing from Khartoum, where she had lost everything."

"She was the sole provider for her family. This is a 20-year-old woman who should be at the prime of her vibrancy and life," said Baker.

Sana "suffered" for 15 months "of silence and pain" before she arrived at the shelter, where she was given psychological support.

Baker also called for more support for aid efforts, saying she had witnessed "babies crowded into incubators and warmers, two or three at a time," and operation theaters with no means of infection control and limited medications.

"I heard the tragic stories of women and girls like Sana, countless others that I can't tell about today, what they want much more than anything else, more than water, more than food, is protection, immediate protection from the raging war," said Baker.