The United States said it had pulled its embassy staff out of Sudan, but evacuations planned by some other countries appeared to run into problems on Sunday amid fighting between rival military factions that has sparked a humanitarian crisis.
Sudan’s warring army and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary group accused each other of attacking a convoy of French civilians, both saying a French man had been injured. France’s foreign ministry, which previously said it was evacuating diplomatic staff and citizens, did not comment on the reports.
The army also accused the RSF of attacking and robbing a Qatari convoy headed for Port Sudan. Doha did not immediately issue a statement on either incident.
Egypt said without giving details that a member of its mission in Sudan had been wounded by gunfire.
President Joe Biden said the US was temporarily suspending operations at its embassy in Khartoum but remained committed to the Sudanese people, reiterating calls for a ceasefire that have so far gone largely unheeded.
“The belligerents must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the Sudanese people,” Biden said in a statement.
A Reuters reporter said live TV feeds were still showing thick smoke over the capital Khartoum, and its sister cities Bahri and Ombudurman, as shelling continued in some areas.
Fighting broke out in Khartoum and other parts of the country on April 15, four years after a popular uprising against long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir killed more than 400 people.
It pits Sudan’s military against the RSF, which jointly staged a coup in 2021 but fell out during talks over plans to form a civilian government and integrate the RSF into the armed forces.
Forces led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, have failed to observe the agreed ceasefire almost every day, including the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Including the three-day ceasefire, which began. on Friday.
Intense fighting has continued over the past two days in central Khartoum around the army headquarters and airport, which has been closed by clashes, and in the outskirts, where the army has used troops on the ground as well as airstrikes To try to push. RSF back.
The RSF said on Sunday that its forces were targeted by airstrikes in Bahri’s Kafouri district and dozens were “killed and wounded”.
“We strongly condemn this treacherous behaviour, which is inconsistent with our stated commitment to a 72-hour ceasefire,” RSF said in a statement.
Sudan’s sudden collapse into war has dashed plans to restore civilian rule, pushing the already impoverished country to the brink of a humanitarian disaster and threatening a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers .
After days of homes or districts trapped in bombardments and with fighters roaming the streets, any lull in fighting could accelerate a desperate rush by many Khartoum residents to flee.
Diplomats and foreign nationals have also struggled to find a way out.
Special forces, including MH-47 Chinook helicopters, entered Sudan’s war-torn capital on Saturday from a US base in Djibouti, spending just over an hour on the ground to evacuate fewer than 100 people, US officials said.
“We didn’t take any small arms fire along the way and were able to get in and out without any problems,” said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of operations at the Army Joint Staff.
Chris Meier, an assistant secretary of defense, said the US military could use drones or satellite imagery to detect threats to Americans traveling on routes out of Sudan, or the position of naval assets at a Sudanese port. May reach to the aid of Americans.
Under Secretary of State for Management John Bass said that some Americans and other citizens had successfully made the journey from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which he said was a challenging journey given the lack of fuel, food and supposedly available water. It seems
Saudi Arabia has already evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 km (400 mi) from Khartoum. Jordan will use this route for its citizens.
Egypt, which has more than 10,000 citizens in Sudan, urged its citizens outside Khartoum to go to its consulate in Port Sudan and a consular office in Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border to prepare for evacuation . This encouraged the people of Khartoum to seek shelter in place and wait for the situation to improve.
Beyond Khartoum, reports of the worst violence have come from Darfur, a western region bordering Chad that erupted in a conflict in 2003 that left 300,000 dead and 2.7 million displaced.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)