Top UN envoy to Sudan over ‘worsening’ humanitarian crisis | World News

top United Nations Humanitarian officials are heading to areas of Sudan as fallout from war there rapidly expands and its wider implications, says UN chief Anthony Guterres Said Sunday.

The announcement came shortly after rival Sudanese forces announced an extension to a truce they had largely violated, as warplanes roared overhead, Fighting continues in the Sudanese capital.

“The scale and speed of what is happening in Sudan is unprecedented. We are extremely concerned about the immediate and long-term implications for everyone in Sudan and the wider region,” Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. statement.

He said the UN chief sent his emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to the region “immediately” in light of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Deadly hostilities between the army and heavily armed paramilitaries have entered their third week in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The latest widely-breached ceasefire was scheduled to officially expire at midnight (2200GMT) before rival forces announced a 72-hour extension, which the Sudanese army said was due to “US-Saudi mediation”.

Since the fighting broke out on April 15, more than 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes for safer places at home and abroad.

The fighting pitted Army Chief of Staff Abdul Fattah al-Burhan’s forces against Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, a former deputy who commands the Rapid Support Force (RSF).

On Sunday night, witnesses reported that armed clashes continued, with fighter jets soaring over the capital and its twin city, Omdurman, across the Nile.

Sudan’s airspace will remain closed until May 13, except for aid and evacuation flights, the Civil Aviation Authority announced on Sunday.

“There was very heavy fighting and loud gunfire,” a resident of southern Khartoum told AFP earlier in the day.

Complicating the battlefield, Sudanese police confirmed the military’s statement that the Central Reserve Police, a paramilitary force, was being deployed across Khartoum to “protect citizens’ property” from looting.

Police said the Central Reserve had arrested 316 “insurgents”, referring to the RSF, which did not confirm the information and had previously warned police not to join the fighting.

After the October 2021 coup that brought Burhan and Daglo to power, Washington last year imposed sanctions on the central reserve bank for “serious human rights violations” for its use of “excessive force” against pro-democracy protests.

Daglo’s RSF is descended from the Janjaweed militia launched by former strongman Omar al-Bashir in Sudan’s West Darfur region, leading to war crimes charges against al-Bashir and others.

– ‘God bless’ –

Since the war began on April 15, foreign countries have evacuated their nationals by air, land and sea as shells fell into residential buildings, supplies became scarce and everyday life for civilians became increasingly difficult.

But millions of Sudanese are still trapped in the country, aid workers have died and the United Nations says humanitarian facilities have been ransacked, forcing all its aid operations to halt.

“We again urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, allow safe passage for civilians fleeing hostile areas, respect humanitarian workers and assets, facilitate relief operations, and respect medical personnel, transport and facilities,” UN spokesman Dugarry said. gram said.

The first Red Cross plane transported eight tons of humanitarian aid from Jordan to Port Sudan, which has so far been untouched by fighting. The aid included surgical materials and medical kits to stabilize 1,500 patients.

On Saturday, the health ministry said some 4,600 people had been injured and at least 528 killed in the violence.

These figures may not be complete.

Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok warned Saturday against letting the conflict escalate into one of the world’s worst civil wars.

The unrest could push millions more into starvation in a country where 15 million people already need aid to stave off famine, the UN World Food Program has warned.

According to the World Health Organization, only 16 percent of health facilities in Khartoum are functioning, and many have been shelled.

A doctor in Addamar, north of Khartoum, warned that “this situation cannot continue” due to shortages of medical supplies.

One of Burhan’s envoys met in Riyadh on Sunday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who urged Sudan to restore calm, his ministry said.

Egypt called a meeting of its permanent representative to the Arab League on Monday to discuss the “situation in Sudan”.

– ‘Dangerous situation’ –

The United Nations says more than 75,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan and nearly 40,000 have crossed the border, most of them into Chad, as well as South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic, aid workers said.

The kingdom said more than 5,000 people had escaped to safety by crossing the Red Sea from Port Sudan on Saudi Arabian ships.

They included Badriah al-Sayed, her Omani husband and their son, who arrived in Jeddah on Sunday on a Saudi warship with about 50 other evacuees.

Saeed told AFP she was grateful for their safety but could not shake the feeling of “losing a country”.

Britain said it would launch an additional evacuation flight from Port Sudan on Monday after already airlifting more than 2,000 people out of the country from an airport near Khartoum.

Canada has ended air evacuations “due to dangerous conditions” following mass airlifts by France, Germany and other countries, which have airlifted more than 540 people.

In addition to the fighting in the capital, fighting, looting and lawlessness in the chronically volatile Darfur region have also drawn special attention from the international community.

At least 96 people were reported dead in El Geneina, West Darfur, the United Nations said.