After the breakout of violence in Sudan, between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, there have been many attempts to establish a ceasefire, but to no avail. Heavy artillery strikes were heard in some “contested areas,” in the Capital, Khartoum, despite the imposition of the 72 hours’ ceasefire by the warring forces.
In the northern part of the capital, plumes of smoke were seen rising along the north banks of the Nile. In the city of Bahri, residents said they saw fighter jets belonging to the Sudanese Army, overhead. Around the vicinity of the Presidential Palace, we heard heavy artillery firing from RSF positions, seemingly towards the fighter jets.
The conflict has entered the eleventh day. A Sudanese citizen, Noon Abdel Bassit, filmed herself evacuating to Egypt, together with her family. She claimed that, it’s been a difficult week, and that it’s difficult leaving her motherland, in the name of conflict.
As fighting continues, the healthcare system in Sudan continue to deteriorates, as facilities are being attacked by the strikes of the fighting forces, and health workers forced to abandon their work, to avoid being caught in crossfire.
“This conflict come on top of a broken and completely defunded health care system without any public infrastructure that was damaged, after 30 years of dictatorship,” Nadal Fadul, an American-Sudanese Doctor said.
“For this war to hit a country like Sudan now, will have massive consequences for the health care system. What I am hearing from my colleagues is that, they can’t suture to treat wounds or blood bags for people who are willing to donate,” “the situation is horrible,” she added.
The UN humanitarian office in Sudan, has reduced its scale of operations. “The United Nations Humanitarian office has been forced to cut back on some of its activities in parts of Sudan,” a spokesperson said.
“In areas where intense fighting has hampered our humanitarian operations, we have been forced to reduce our footprint,” Jens Laerke, from the UN office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, disclosed. “But we are committed to continue to deliver for the people of Sudan,” he added.
Countries Evacuates Their Nationals
Cyprus has offered to aid the evacuation of third world nationals, trapped in the Sudan conflict. “The Republic of Cyprus intends to offer facilities to friendly countries for the repatriation of their nationals through Cyprus, the Foreign Ministry of Cyprus said in a statement.
France has evacuated 538 people from Sudan, according to President Emmanuel Macron. French citizens made up 209 of total number of evacuees, Macron explained at the start of a Defense Council meeting at the Elysee Palace. Injuries were sustained by soldiers who were involved in the evacuation, but the injuries are no longer life-threatening, he added.
The United Kingdom has begun a large-scale evacuation of its citizens trapped in Sudan. “UK Military flights are due to depart from an airfield outside of Khartoum,” a Foreign Office statement said. “Flights will be opened to those with British passports and priority will be given to family groups with children and/or the elderly or individuals with medical conditions.”
The Swiss Foreign Minister, Ignazio Cassis, said Bern is monitoring opportunities to evacuate its remaining citizens from Sudan. “There are windows of opportunity and there is a need to be ready for those who wish to leave the country and can leave the country,” Mr. Cassis said at the airport, adding that it was cooperating with other Western countries on possible further repatriations.
“It’s not very easy, because joint nationals are not allowed to leave the country because of their Sudanese nationality and we will see what happens,” he explained.
Most Chinese nationals have safely evacuated to the border port of neighboring countries, Foreign Ministry of China has said.
In other developments, shipping group, Moller-Maersk has announced, it will stop booking of goods for Sudan. “These current circumstances mean that we have stop taking new bookings for now until the situation improves,” Maersk said in a statement commenting on the situation in Sudan.
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