Senior United Nations (UN) officials on Friday urged increased funding and reduced red tape to aid an estimated 14 million children in Sudan.

Ted Chaiban of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Edem Wosornu with the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) briefed journalists on their recent mission to the country.

Fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces recently passed the 100-day mark. Overall, 24 million people across the country require aid.

Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, expressed hope that ongoing talks in Saudi Arabia will lead to a cessation of hostilities.

He said the conflict is threatening the lives and future of children and young people, who make up over 70 percent of Sudan's population.

"I saw the total of the atrocities committed against children and women during the darkest days of the Darfur conflict 18 years ago. Both Edem and I were there. And I think we're deeply concerned that we could be looking at a repetition of these terrible days," he said.

Chaiban said nearly 14 million children desperately need humanitarian relief, a number that is equivalent to all the boys and girls in Colombia, France, Germany or Thailand. Some 1.7 million people have been driven from their homes, adding to the nearly 2 million who were already uprooted before the crisis.

"Parents are making the impossible choice of deciding whether to stay or leave, and leave everything behind they have known," he said.

Furthermore, 3 million children under the age of five in Sudan are malnourished, with 700,000 at risk of severe acute malnutrition and mortality. Some 1.7 million children could miss out on critical vaccinations, raising the risk of disease outbreaks.

Many people have flocked to Port Sudan, the city on the Red Sea where the UN established a hub shortly after the fighting broke out. The arrivals are being hosted by family and friends who can barely meet their own needs as rents skyrocket and civil servants go unpaid, said Wosornu, director of OCHA's Operations and Advocacy Division.

She met with women in Port Sudan and the nearby town of Sinkat. These women spoke about seeing their homes "obliterated in one minute" or difficulties in accessing lifesaving medicine such as insulin.

Humanitarian assistance reached at least 2.5 million people between April and June. But the target is 18 million, underscoring the need for more financial support and less red tape.

"Overall, I think the message is that we can't accept the toll that this war is taking on Sudan's children, their families and the future," said Chaiban.