KHARTOUM – A 72-hour truce has fallen through in Sudan as clashes continued between the country’s army and a paramilitary group, a local doctors association announced yesterday.
Hospitals continue to be targeted in the conflict as both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) failed to fulfil their commitments under the ceasefire, Anadolu Agency reported the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) said.
An Anadolu correspondent on the ground said the fighting had spread to Bahri and Omdurman, cities adjacent to the capital Khartoum, where the current conflict broke out on April 15, the CCSD added, noting that clashes had also taken place around the army headquarters and presidential palace.
Both sides accused each other of violating the truce, with the army claiming that the RSF were pushing more forces to Khartoum, while the paramilitary group said the SAF had attacked its forces at different locations.
Meanwhile, the evacuation process of foreign diplomats began as the two warring parties expressed willingness to open the airports.
The SAF said in a statement on Facebook that army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan had received requests from different countries to allow the evacuation of their respective nationals.
“We are waiting for the process to begin in the coming hours as US, UK, France, and China will provide military planes for the evacuation from Khartoum,” the statement said.
It added that the Saudi diplomatic mission was the first nation to have its citizens evacuated through Port Sudan, adding that Jordan would also use the same route.
Türkiye’s embassy in Sudan announced yesterday that it would evacuate Turkish nationals who wanted to depart the country due to recent clashes between the army and paramilitary forces.
“As a result of the security assessments made in light of the ongoing clashes throughout Sudan, it has been decided that our citizens, especially those in the conflict zones, will be evacuated to our country via a third country (where they will go) by road tomorrow,” the embassy said, according to Anadolu Agency.
Kuwait yesterday also launched an “emergency operation” to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Salim Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah announced the ongoing effort, underlining that it came in response to the critical security situation in Sudan and after close monitoring by the political administration.
He said all Kuwaitis who wanted to return to the Gulf country had safely reached the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and that efforts continued to get them to Kuwait, Anadolu Agency reported.
Clashes have continued for more than a week between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with more than 300 civilians killed and over 200 others injured, according to UN figures. – Bernama, April 23, 2023
