The arrival of Red Cross aid in Sudan for the first time since fighting broke out between rival armies three weeks ago is rare news in a conflict that shows little sign of ending. The ICRC said in a statement that eight tonnes of medical aid arrived on Sunday to provide relief to Sudan's battered health facilities.
Thousands of foreign nationals have been evacuated from the Sudan and thousands of local families have fled the capital, Khartoum, in clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and rival rapid support forces. Witnesses told CNN that new gunfire was heard Sunday near the competitive presidential palace in the capital, Khartoum.
Robbery! Robbery! Crazy robbery!
The ceasefire agreed on Friday has been teetering and expires Sunday night. The RSF said it would extend the truce for another 72 hours, but the military had not responded immediately. This weekend, Sudanese police were deployed in Khartoum for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict to maintain security amid heavy looting. Among the personnel deployed are combat-trained police personnel from the Central Reserve Force.
Local residents told CNN that markets and shops have been targeted by looters in the past few days. Hatem Awadallah, a Sudanese-German citizen living in Khartoum, told CNN by phone that he was the victim of a robbery by members of the Rapid Support Force (RSF).
"I woke up at 1:30 a.m. and heard the sound of a Kalashnikov submachine gun on my head, and a group of armed RSF personnel who demanded that I give any amount of money or I would be killed," said Awadallah, whose 83-year-old mother and family had also been threatened with guns by thieves demanding money.
The family eventually handed over $14,000, while the thieves stole another $5,000 and shot and destroyed two iPhones and an iPad.
"They snatched a new car — a Toyota truck — and left the house," Awadala said, "and our three tied guards told us that the people who robbed them were in four armed cars belonging to the RSF," he said.
Evacuate overseas Chinese! Evacuate overseas Chinese! Countries around the world are busy evacuating their nationals
The fighting comes as several countries report that thousands of foreigners have been evacuated.
Britain said more than 2,000 people had been evacuated so far, the vast majority of them British nationals and their families. The British government said evacuation flights would be carried out again on Monday to help British nationals leave Port Sudan, but it was unclear where the flights would go.
Meanwhile, China said it had evacuated 940 Chinese citizens and 231 foreigners from Sudan to Saudi Arabia between Wednesday and Saturday. Senior Colonel Tan Kefei said: "In order to protect the lives and property of Chinese citizens in the Soviet Union, the Chinese army has been ordered to evacuate the Chinese personnel in the Soviet Union. ”
Saudi Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Turki al-Maliki told CNN on Sunday that Saudi ships have so far evacuated 5,197 people from 100 countries from Port Sudan.
The first U.S.-led evacuation of U.S. citizens was completed on Saturday, with a U.S. government-organized convoy trekking from the capital Khartoum to Port Sudan. Americans in Sudan are increasingly angry that they feel abandoned by the U.S. government, despite the evacuation of all U.S. government personnel during military operations last weekend. But for more than a week, the U.S. government has insisted that conditions are not conducive to civilian evacuation.
Flee! Flee! 10,000 families fled the capital
Although many foreign nationals have now been evacuated, many Sudanese remain trapped in deteriorating and deadly conditions on the ground.
Since the beginning of the fighting, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded. Experts say the country is now at risk of a humanitarian catastrophe, as people still trapped in their homes face shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity.
Thousands of families fleeing Khartoum traveled to Shendi City, where citizens launched an Open Homes initiative to help them. CNN's correspondent in Sudan learned that more than 10,000 families have traveled to Shendi, 172 kilometers north of Khartoum, in the past two weeks.
Owners in Shendi and nearby villages (e.g. Al-Musayyab, Al-Musayyab, Al-Shaghalwa) provide free housing to those who do not have family in Shendi.
Organizers of the initiative told CNN they greeted arrivals with food and drinks and offered medical assistance. Those at risk of kidney failure are placed closer to the hospital. All medical care and housing are provided free of charge.
Nightmare! Nightmare! This is a nightmare for the whole world
Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok said Saturday that the African country's worsening armed conflict could trigger civil war, which he said would be the world's nightmare.
"If Sudan does get to the point of civil war, God forbid," he said at an event in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday, he considered civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya trivial compared to the civil wars he feared could break out in Sudan.
About 500 civilians are thought to have lost their lives since the outbreak of clashes in the politically volatile country on April 15, mainly between the army controlled by Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and the army controlled by Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti. The commander of the latter paramilitary rapid support force (RSF). The main dispute between the two sides revolves around plans to integrate the RSF into Sudan's existing army.
The warring sides tentatively agreed to several ceasefire agreements, but none of them were firmly established as violence continued in the country's capital, Khartoum. There are reports of widespread power outages and food and water shortages in the country's capital. The United Nations estimates that some 75,000 people have been displaced since the fighting broke out, which has also led to the mass departure of foreign workers from the country.
Hamdok saw the conflict as a senseless war. "No one is going to come out of this victory. That's why it has to stop," he said.