The US military has evacuated American diplomats and their families from Sudan as fighting between rival commanders that has killed hundreds of civilians continued.
The operation, involving six aircraft, was carried out in coordination with the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Other foreign nationals began evacuating from a Red Sea port in Sudan on Saturday.
The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers in the Sudanese capital, disabling the airport and rendering some roads impassable.
The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to honour declared ceasefires that have mostly been ignored, and to open safe passage for fleeing civilians and the supply of badly needed aid.
With the airport closed and skies unsafe, thousands of foreigners – including embassy staff, aid workers and students in Khartoum and elsewhere in Africa’s third largest country – have also been unable to get out.
Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 km from Khartoum. Jordan will use the same route for its nationals.
Travel at your own risk
Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, though the Sudanese army has said airports in Khartoum and Darfur’s biggest city Nyala are problematic and it was not clear when that might be possible.
The US Embassy warned Americans it could not assist convoys from Khartoum to Port Sudan and travel would be at individuals’ own risk.
The army, under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rival paramilitary, headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have so far failed to observe ceasefires agreed almost daily since hostilities broke out on April 15.
Saturday’s fighting breached what was meant to be a three-day truce from Friday to allow citizens to reach safety and visit family during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Both sides accused the other of not respecting the truce.
Residents of Khartoum and the adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri reported air strikes near the state broadcaster and battles in several areas including near the army headquarters.
One resident, Muhammad Siddiq, said: “We went through hours of terror today, when there were clashes and gunfire between the army and RSF inside the neighbourhood, and bullets everywhere.”
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres appealed for safe passage. “We need ports of entry where we can bring specialist trauma staff and medical supplies,” said Sudan operations manager Abdalla Hussein.
Hospitals become targets
The Sudanese doctors union said more than two-thirds of hospitals in conflict areas were out of service, with 32 forcibly evacuated by soldiers or caught in crossfire.
Beyond Khartoum, reports of the worst violence have come from Darfur, a western region that suffered a conflict which escalated from 2003 leaving 300,000 people dead and 2.7 million displaced.
A UN update on Saturday said looters had taken at least 10 World Food Program vehicles and six other food trucks after overrunning the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala, south Darfur.
Sudan’s sudden collapse into warfare has dashed plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster and threatened a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers, four years after the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising.
The World Health Organisation reported on Friday that 413 people had been killed and 3,551 injured since fighting broke out. The death toll includes at least five aid workers in a country reliant on food aid.
-AAP
