He The United Nations’ top humanitarian official heads to the Sudan region due to the rapidly developing conflict in the African country and its consequences in the regionUN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.
The announcement came shortly after rival Sudanese forces announced the extension of a truce they have largely violated, as warplanes roared overhead and fighting continued on the ground in the Sudanese capital.
“The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan. We are extremely concerned about the immediate and long-term impact on all people in Sudan and the wider region,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, said in a statement.
He said the UN chief would “immediately” send Martin Griffithsits emergency aid coordinator, to the area “in light of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan.”
Deadly hostilities between the army and heavily armed paramilitaries in Khartoum and other parts of the country have entered their third week.
The last widely violated ceasefire was set to formally expire at midnight (2200 GMT) before rival forces announced a 72-hour extension that the Sudanese military said was due to “US-Saudi mediation.” ”.
More than 500 people have died and tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes. in search of safer places within the country or abroad since the fighting broke out on April 15.
The fight confronts the forces of the head of the army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against Mohamed Hamdan Daglowho commands the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Witnesses reported continued armed clashes on Sunday night, as well as warplanes flying over various parts of the capital and its twin city, Omdurman, across the Nile River.
The civil aviation authority announced on Sunday that Sudan’s airspace will remain closed until May 13, with the exception of relief and evacuation flights.
“There have been very tough clashes and heavy shooting,” he told the AFP a resident of southern Khartoum earlier in the day.
To further complicate the battlefield, the Central Reserve Police, a paramilitary unit, was being deployed to Khartoum to “protect citizens’ property” from looting, Sudanese police said, confirming an army statement.
Police said the Central Reserve had arrested 316 “rebels”a reference to RSF, which did not confirm the information and had previously warned the police not to join the fight.
Washington last year sanctioned the Central Reserve for “serious human rights abuses” related to its use of “excessive force” against pro-democracy protests after the October 2021 coup that brought Burhan and Daglo to power.
Daglo’s RSF descend from the Janjaweed unleashed by former dictator Omar al-Bashir in Sudan’s western Darfur region, leading to war crimes charges against Bashir and others.
With shells hitting residential buildings, supplies running low and everyday life increasingly untenable for civilians, foreign nations have scrambled to evacuate their citizens by air, road and sea since the war began on April 15.
But millions of Sudanese are still trapped in the country, where Aid workers are among the dead and the UN said humanitarian facilities have been looted, forcing a halt to all its aid operations.
“Once again, we urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, allow safe passage for civilians fleeing areas of hostilities, respect humanitarian workers and assets, facilitate relief operations and respect staff, transport and medical facilities,” the UN spokesman said.
A first Red Cross plane carried eight tons of humanitarian aid from Jordan to Port Sudan, which until now has not been affected by the fighting. The aid included surgical supplies and medical kits to stabilize 1,500 patients.
On Saturday, the Health Ministry said the violence has injured some 4,600 people and killed at least 528.
Sudan’s former prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, warned on Saturday against escalating the conflict into one of the world’s worst civil wars.
The UN World Food Program warned that the riots could plunge millions more into famine in a country where 15 million people already needed help to avoid famine.
Only 16 percent of health facilities are working in Khartoum, according to the World Health Organization, and many were bombed.
“The situation cannot be sustained” as medical supplies are running low, warned Majzoub Saad Ibrahim, a doctor in Ad Damar, north of Khartoum.
(With information from AFP)
Keep reading:
Clashes continue in Sudan: in the midst of a phantom truce, the head of the Army refused to negotiate
Why the civil war in Sudan matters far beyond its borders and those of Africa
Russian mercenaries are closely linked to belligerent Sudanese generals
Fighting continues in Sudan despite announcement of a truce: UN calls for more humanitarian corridors
Source-www.infobae.com