The World Health Organization reported on Friday that 413 people had been killed and 3,551 injured since fighting broke out. The death toll includes at least five aid workers in a country reliant on food aid.
International efforts to quell the violence have focused on the ceasefire, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken calling on them to honour the truce.
The US and some other countries have readied efforts to evacuate their citizens. The army said the United States, Britain, France and China would evacuate diplomats and other nationals from Khartoum “in the coming hours”.
Saudi Arabia’s embassy had already been evacuated out by land to Port Sudan and flown out from there and Jordan’s would follow in a similar manner, the army added.
RSF chief Hemedti said on Facebook early on Saturday that he had received a phone call from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in which they “emphasised the necessity of adhering to a complete ceasefire and providing protection for humanitarian and medical workers”.
The RSF said it was ready to partially open all airports to allow evacuations. However, Khartoum’s international airport has been caught in fighting and the status of other airports or RSF’s control over them is unclear.
HOSPITALS HIT
In Omdurman, one of Khartoum’s adjoining sister cities, there were fears over the fate of detainees in al-Huda prison, the largest in Sudan.
The army on Friday accused the RSF of raiding the prison, which the paramilitary force denied. Lawyers for a prisoner there said in a statement that an armed group had forcibly evacuated the prison, with the detainees’ whereabouts unknown.
Source: CNA
