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| ©Mohammed Ali/EPA-EFE |
The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire beginning on Tuesday. Still, gunfire and explosions could be heard in Omdurman, one of Khartoum's sister cities on the Nile River. U.N. special envoy on Sudan Volker Perthes told the U.N. Security Council that the ceasefire "seems to be holding in some parts so far."
Air strikes and artillery have killed at least 459 people, wounded over 4,000, destroyed hospitals, and limited food distribution in a nation where a third of its 46 million rely on food aid. A projectile hit Al-Roumi medical centre in Omdurman on Tuesday and exploded inside the facility, injuring 13 people.
Former Sudanese Minister Ahmed Haroun, who the International Criminal Court wants on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, said he and other officials were allowed to leave Kober prison. The ICC in the Hague has accused Haroun of organizing militias to attack civilians in genocide in Darfur in 2003 and 2004. The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern about potential biological hazards from measles and cholera pathogens for vaccinations stored there.
An exodus of embassies and aid workers from Africa's third-largest country has raised fears that civilians who remain will be in greater danger if the shaky three-day truce deal, which expires on Thursday, does not hold. An exodus of embassies and aid workers from Africa's third-largest country has raised fears that civilians who remain will be in greater danger if the shaky three-day truce deal, which expires on Thursday, does not hold.
The humanitarian office (OCHA) reported that shortages of food, water, medicines, and fuel were becoming "extremely acute." Prices were surging, and it had cut back operations for safety reasons.
The U.N. refugee agency forecast that hundreds of thousands of people might flee into neighbouring countries. As foreign governments evacuated their nationals, those with nowhere to go said they felt forsaken. Since the fighting erupted, tens of thousands have left for neighbouring countries.
Civilians leaving Khartoum in cars and buses, the streets of one of Africa's most significant metropolitan areas were primarily emptied of ordinary daily life. People started to go out armed, with axes and sticks, as French journalist Augustine Passilly tried to cross the border into Egypt.
Reuters originally published this article
