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Fighting flared in Sudan yesterday as its armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battled on Khartoum’s outskirts, undermining a truce in their 11-day conflict.
The fighting came as the army agreed to extending the ceasefire that is in force till today.
The army said last night its leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, gave initial approval to a plan to extend the truce for another 72 hours and send an army envoy to the South Sudan capital, Juba, for talks, reported Reuters.
There was no immediate response from the RSF to the proposal.
Also yesterday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat discussed working together to create a sustainable end to the fighting in Sudan.
UN secretary general António Guterres warned that prolonged fighting in Sudan could cause “years of immense suffering,” and that the conflict could not be resolved on the battlefield.
Meanwhile six UK flights have evacuated 536 people from Sudan since the pause in fierce fighting was agreed, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said yesterday, but thousands more may need help fleeing.
Fighting flared in Sudan yesterday as Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battled on Khartoum’s outskirts, undermining a truce in their 11-day conflict.
The fighting came as the army agreed to extending the ceasefire that is in force till today.
The army late last night said its leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, gave initial approval to a plan to extend the truce for another 72 hours and send an army envoy to the South Sudan capital, Juba, for talks, reported Reuters.
There was no immediate response from the RSF to the proposal from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc.
The military said the presidents of South Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti worked on a proposal that includes extending the truce and talks between the two forces.
“Burhan thanked the IGAD and expressed an initial approval to that,” the army statement said.
International parties have called for a ceasefire and a return to dialogue but there has been little sign of compromise from the warring factions.
The army has branded the RSF as a rebel force and demanded its dissolution, while Hemedti has called Burhan a criminal and blamed him for visiting destruction on the country.
Though Sudan’s army has superior resources including air power and the RSF expanded into a force estimated at 100,000 men that had deployed across Khartoum and its neighbouring cities as well as in other regions, raising the spectre of protracted conflict on top of a long-running economic crisis and existing, large-scale humanitarian needs.
The RSF can also draw on support and tribal ties in the western region of Darfur, where it emerged from the militias that fought alongside government forces to crush rebels in a brutal war that escalated after 2003.
The conflict between Sudan‘s army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered a rush to extract foreign diplomats and citizens.
Several countries have evacuated nationals by air, while some have gone via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, about 500 miles (800 km) by road from Khartoum.
UK
Britain is beginning a “large-scale” evacuation of its citizens, with priority given to families with children, the elderly and the infirm. Foreign minister James Cleverly said the UK is working closely with its international partners.
The government estimates there are around 4,000 Britons in Sudan. It evacuated its diplomats and their families on Saturday.
Japan
All Japanese people who wished to leave have been evacuated, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
Forty-five left on Monday night on a Japanese military flight, and eight others left with the help of France and other groups, he said.
Germany
As of Tuesday morning, a German evacuation mission had brought a total of 500 people from more than 30 countries to safety, including Belgian, British, Dutch, Jordanian and US citizens as well as Germans.
The country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said efforts were under way to get the remaining Germans out, but did not say how many were left.
France
France has evacuated more than 500 people from Sudan, comprising more than 200 French citizens as well as Americans, Britons and others, President Emmanuel Macron told his government.
Paris has also sent a warship to Port Sudan to help pick up evacuees, two diplomatic sources said.
Italy
Italian military planes flying from Djibouti evacuated 83 Italians and 13 others overnight, including children and the Italian ambassador.
The country’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said some Italian NGO workers and missionaries had decided to stay in Sudan, while 19 others had been taken to Egypt two days ago.
Cyprus
Cyprus said on Tuesday it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism to allow third countries to use its facilities to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan.
China
Most Chinese nationals have been safely evacuated in groups to neighbouring countries, China’s Foreign Ministry said.
United States of America
US forces evacuated American and some foreign diplomats on Saturday.
Washington said on Monday that several dozen Americans were travelling overland in a UN-led convoy to Port Sudan, and that dozens more had expressed an interest in leaving.
It said it was positioning naval assets to assist evacuations if necessary.
Ukraine
Kyiv said it had rescued of its 87 citizens – most of them pilots, aircraft technicians and their families – among a total of 138 civilians, who also included citizens of Georgia and Peru.
South Africa
Officials said it expected the last 12 of its nationals known to be in Sudan to have left on Tuesday.
Egypt
On Monday, Egypt said it had evacuated 436 of its nationals out of about 10,000 in neighbouring Sudan. It said one of its diplomats had been wounded by gunfire, without giving details.
About 800 Sudanese and 100 foreigners had passed through the Egyptian border with Sudan, two Egyptian security sources said, as Egypt loosened restrictions on those allowed in.
Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab states
Saudi Arabia took 91 Saudis and about 66 people from other countries out from Port Sudan by naval ship to Jeddah on Saturday.
Kuwait said all citizens wishing to return home had arrived in Jeddah.
Qatar said Saudi Arabia had helped evacuate Qatari citizens. Sudan’s army accused the RSF of attacking and looting a Qatari embassy convoy heading to Port Sudan. It was not clear if it was the same group that left for Saudi Arabia. The RSF and Qatar have not commented.
Russia
Moscow’s ambassador in Khartoum said 140 of about 300 Russians in Sudan had said they wanted to leave, but said evacuation plans could not yet be implemented because they involved crossing front lines. He said there were about 15 people, including a woman and child, stuck in a Russian Orthodox church close to heavy fighting in Khartoum.
Fighting has erupted in Sudan’s capital city Khartoum and other sites across the country this month as powerful rival military factions battle for control of the African nation and its future.
So far, over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed in the conflict and over 3,700 wounded.
Tension had been building for months between Sudan’s army and the RSF, which together toppled a civilian government in an October 2021 coup.
The friction was brought to a head by an internationally-backed plan to launch a new transition with civilian parties. A final deal was due to be signed earlier in April, on the fourth anniversary of the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising.
Both the army and the RSF were required to cede power under the plan and two issues proved particularly contentious: one was the timetable for the RSF to be integrated into the regular armed forces, the second was when the army would be formally placed under civilian oversight.
When fighting broke out on 15 April, both sides blamed the other for provoking the violence. The army accused the RSF of illegal mobilisation in preceding days and the RSF, as it moved on key strategic sites in Khartoum, said the army had tried to seize full power in a plot with Bashir loyalists.
Suella Braverman has been rebuked by the UN’s refugee agency for falsely claiming Sudanese asylum seekers have “various” legal ways to reach the UK.
The Home Secretary said there was “no good reason” for those fleeing Sudan to cross the English Channel in small boats and instead urged asylum seekers to contact the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“If you are fleeing Sudan for humanitarian reasons, there are various mechanisms you can use, the UNHCR is present in the region and they are the right mechanism by which people should apply if they do want to seek asylum in the UK,” Ms Braverman said.
But the UNHCR quickly responded, saying it was “aware” of the statement and “wished to clarify” that there is “no mechanism” for refugees to seek asylum in the UK through the organisation.
“There is no asylum visa or ‘queue’ for the United Kingdom,” it said. The UNHCR added that an “overwhelming majority” of refugees have no access to safe and legal routes to the UK, noting that only a “very small” number seek asylum here.
Archie Mitchell reports:
The UNHCR said an ‘overwhelming majority’ of refugees have no access to safe and legal routes to the UK, noting that only a ‘very small’ number seek asylum in the UK.
A British medical student and NHS doctor with her children are among thousands stuck in chaotic scenes at Sudan’s border with Egypt, in what is rapidly deteriorating into a humanitarian crisis.
The Britons became trapped in Khartoum when ferocious fighting between Sudan’s top generals erupted and they were forced to make the treacherous journey to the border where dire conditions awaited them.
Dr Lina Badr, 42, an NHS gynaecologist based in Birmingham, and her three children have been waiting in the queue for two days. She described chaos as thousands of desperate people wait to cross into Egypt in the heat with no way of securing food or water.
Tara Cobham and Bel Trew report:
An NHS doctor with her children describes scenes of chaos as thousands of desperate people wait to cross border in the heat with little food or water
A British-Sudanese father of three has said he told his children “it was like a hide-and-seek game” when his home was caught in the middle of a gunfight in Sudan.
Munzir Salman was at home in Khartoum with his three children when Sudanese armed forces soldiers were ambushed by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) officers outside his block of flats.
The 37-year-old, who has dual citizenship, spoke to the PA news agency while he and his children waited to fly to the UK via Larnaca, Cyprus.
He said: “What happened was some army soldiers were coming through and they were ambushed by the RSF.
“They then ran behind my house, and they were shooting at each other, I was in the middle.
“It was horrendous and, unfortunately, it’s not the first time I’ve had gunshots around me. I’m a single father of three kids so I had to stay calm for them.
“I had to tell them it was like a game and told them it was like a hide-and-seek game.
“It was an experience they had never been through before, it was very scary but I tried to make it a game for them.
“I explained the danger before trying to make it like Tom and Jerry where the people outside were Tom and we were Jerry.”
Ben Roberts-Haslam reports:
Munzir Salman was with his three children when Sudanese soldiers were ambushed by Rapid Support Forces officers outside his Khartoum block of flats.
Six UK flights have evacuated 536 people from war-torn Sudan, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
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More than 300 Britons have been evacuated from Sudan
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