Sudan updates: Warring sides agree to extending truce
All the updates from April 30 as they happened.
This live blog is closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Sudan conflict on Sunday, April 30.
This live blog is closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Sudan conflict on Sunday, April 30.
- The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have agreed to extend a humanitarian truce for 72 hours starting at midnight local time (22:00 GMT Sunday).
- The Sudanese police have deployed the Central Reserve Police in the streets of the capital Khartoum to maintain security.
- “There is no right to go on fighting for power when the country is falling apart,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday as fighting between Sudan’s army and the RSF entered a third week.
- Although the latest three-day ceasefire is due to expire at midnight, battles have raged as rival generals take aim at each other in the media.
- The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is raising the alarm and warning that the ongoing violence could plunge all of East Africa into a humanitarian crisis.
Humanitarian crisis in Sudan at ‘breaking point’: UN
The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian crisis in Sudan is at “a breaking point”.
“The scale and speed of what is unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented,” said Martin Griffiths, the UN’s top humanitarian diplomat.
Griffiths said that “massive looting” of aid supplies has hindered efforts to help civilians who are running out of water, food, and other critical items.
UN chief is sending envoy to Sudan in light of humanitarian crisis
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is sending an envoy to the Sudan region amid the “unprecedented” situation there, his spokesman has said.
“In light of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, Guterres is sending Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, “to the region immediately”.
“The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan,” the statement said. “We are extremely concerned.”
As looting intensifies in Khartoum, loved ones mourn Sudanese-American doctor
American doctor Bushra Ibnauf Sulieman was killed last week as looting and lawlessness took over the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
The 49-year-old kept working in Sudan as long as he could after fighting engulfed the capital.
He ventured outside as explosions shook homes, to treat Khartoum’s wounded, before deciding he had to flee.
As he was leaving, a roving band surrounded him in his yard last week, stabbing him to death in front of his family.
Friends suspect robbery was the motive. He became one of two Americans confirmed killed in Sudan in the fighting, both dual nationals.
Sulieman’s colleagues in Sudan – and at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City in the United States – are mourning the loss of a man they see as a powerhouse doctor and humanitarian. He had gone to Sudan many times to provide free medical care to its poorest people and to be with his ailing parents.
US says it helped evacuate 1,000 Americans from Sudan
The United States government and multinational partners have helped nearly 1,000 Americans leave Sudan since recent violence began, while a second government convoy arrived in Port Sudan on Sunday, according to the US Department of State.
US citizens and others eligible for the convoy would continue on to Saudi Arabia, where personnel were staged to help facilitate emergency travel, State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement on Sunday.
Some 150 Somalis have been evacuated safely: Official
Scores of Somalis fleeing violence in Sudan arrived in their Horn of Africa nation on Sunday, an official has said.
Some 148 Somali nationals, mostly students, arrived by plane in the capital, Mogadishu, said Abdurahman Nur Mohamed Diinaari, a top official with the Somali foreign ministry.
The Somalis had travelled by land from Sudan to Ethiopia and then onward by air to Somalia.
Forty-five of those who arrived Sunday later were transported to Garowe, the administrative capital of the Somali state of Puntland, Diinaari said.
What is Egypt’s role in Sudan?
Egypt’s role in Sudan is being disputed by analysts, with some arguing that Cairo has not been taking sides in the conflict.
“In the last decade, Egypt had been trying to mediate between the warring parties, including the Juba peace agreement, the Cairo workshop [in February 2023] and the Arab League initiative,” Sara Kira, director of the European North African Center for Research, told Al Jazeera.
But others say Egypt’s role in the Sudanese crisis is complex and contradictory.
“Since the beginning of the transition in 2019, Egypt has adopted a deeply flawed, short-sighted policy in Sudan, driven by two contradictory objectives,” said Khalil al-Anani, a senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC.
“The first one is Egypt, along with other regional allies, such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel, worked hard in order to prevent the establishment of a civilian democratic government in the last four years,” he told Al Jazeera.
The second objective, al-Anani said, was fueled by Cairo’s fear that Sudan would turn into a failed state, and that meant supporting a strong military rule akin to the one in Egypt.
Sudan army says it agreed to extend truce with RSF
The Sudanese army has said in a statement that it agreed to extend a truce with the paramilitary RSF for 72 hours, starting from the end of the current ceasefire arrangement.
The army said that although the rebels had intended to attack some sites, it hoped that they would abide by the ceasefire.
Sudanese use fighting lull to flee Khartoum
People are using a lull in fighting to flee the capital of Sudan for various reasons, said Sudanese journalist Mohamed Alamin Ahmed, speaking from Khartoum.
“People are fleeing Khartoum not only because of the humanitarian situation and the bombs that have fallen on houses of civilians because of random shelling and air strikes, but also because of looting civilians in the streets, and even inside their houses,” he told Al Jazeera.
Canada ends evacuations in Sudan
Canada has ended its operation evacuating people from Sudan’s Wadi Seidna airfield near Khartoum due to the dangerous and volatile conditions on the ground, Defence Minister Anita Anand has said.
“Because of the dangerous conditions, and in concert with decisions made by our allies, no further Canadian flights are planned from the Wadi Seidna airfield,” Anand told a news conference.
She said that roughly 230 Canadians who remain in Sudan are seeking assistance and information through Global Affairs Canada, the government department that manages Canada’s diplomatic and consular relations.
Canada began its evacuation operation from Sudan on Thursday.
It has since conducted six flights, including two on Saturday, airlifting almost 550 people, while approximately 400 Canadians and permanent residents have been evacuated, including on Canadian and allied flights, Anand said.
Refugees fleeing Sudan for Chad in large numbers: AJ correspondent
People are fleeing Sudan in large numbers across the border into Chad, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Adre, Chad, on the border with Sudan said, “The UN and other agencies who are trying to help these refugees are projecting [that they have helped] at least 20,000 refugees in the past week or so.
“But what we’re seeing right now is the refugee numbers could go much higher than that. Already the amount of food being delivered is not sufficient to last a family for five days. Unless food aid arrives, significant issues, health issues, malnutrition issues [will arise],” he said.
Gun battles rage in central Khartoum despite announced truce
Gun battles have been reported around the army headquarters in central Khartoum, and the SAF carried out air raids in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman across the Nile River, according to witnesses.
Central Reserve Police, a paramilitary unit, were being deployed across Khartoum, a city of five million, to “protect citizens’ properties” from looting, the force said, confirming an army statement.
The police force said it had arrested 316 “rebels”, in reference to paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fighters, but this was not confirmed by the RSF, which had previously warned the police against joining the battles.
Syrians stranded in Sudan have to flee war all over again
Mahmoud Suweidan, a Syrian national living in Sudan, is once again trying to leave a warzone as he awaits evacuation from Port Sudan.
Suweidan embarked on a long 36-hour journey from war-ridden Khartoum east to Port Sudan, and is now waiting in limbo, hoping to be evacuated to Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday, April 30, he remained stranded at Port Sudan.
“As Syrians, we are used to that, but for the Sudanese people and those living in Khartoum, it happened without a warning, which impacted us as Syrians,” he told Reuters.
After facing difficulties entering neighbouring countries, many Syrians came to Sudan before it required them to have visas starting in December 2020.
Fleeing a raging war in Syria, Suweidan said he saw in Sudan in 12 days what he witnessed in his own home country in 12 years.
His fellow Syrian, Radwan Hashim Wahba, has been living in Port Sudan for five years. He was shot by a sniper in Syria and moved to Sudan in 2012. In 2016, he fled to Egypt for treatment and stayed there for 20 months before going back to Sudan.
While he plans to stay in Port Sudan, relatively far from the fighting in the capital Khartoum, he feels sorry for the thousands stranded there.
“There are no homes or apartments here,” Wahba said. “People come, and they come here to sleep in the street. All people are setting in the street. Women have nowhere to shower. There are children, diabetic people, others with hearing impairments, and pregnant women.”
US sent ship to Sudan to evacuate citizens: Report
The United States has sent a US Navy ship to Sudan to help evacuate American citizens who have been stranded in the country since fighting broke out earlier this month, two US officials have told Reuters.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the USNS Brunswick, a fast-transport vessel, was in Port Sudan temporarily. One of the officials said hundreds of citizens are likely to be evacuated on the vessel.
UK to exceptionally offer one more evacuation flight out of Sudan
The United Kingdom has arranged an extra evacuation flight from Port Sudan that is set to depart on May 1, the government has said, adding that it has evacuated 2,122 people so far.
The UK government confirmed that it was no longer running evacuation flights from Wadi Saidna airfield, near Khartoum, due to a decline in demand by British nationals, and as the situation on the ground remains volatile.
“Our rescue efforts continue from Port Sudan. We continue to do everything in our power to secure a long-term ceasefire, a stable transition to civilian rule and an end to the violence in Sudan,” UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly said in the statement.
The extra flight planned from Port Sudan, which the government has called an “exceptional” one, will facilitate the evacuation of a limited number of British nationals remaining in Sudan who wish to leave, the statement said.
Sudanese stuck without passports speak of their ordeals
Some Sudanese citizens in Khartoum say they are stuck as their passports are being held in shuttered embassies that have evacuated their foreign staff.
“By the end of March, I had applied for a visa to study in South Africa,” said Ramah Farah. “By April 18, I couldn’t reach my passport so I can’t go anywhere. I didn’t get any response from the embassy — no announcement, no phone calls, no direct messages.”
Ashraf Hassan AlMalik said all his attempts to reach the Spanish embassy, where his passport is stuck, have been futile.
“I emailed the Spanish embassy multiple times and I called them multiple times but when they found out I wasn’t Spanish, they hung up without any explanation,” he said.
UK vows to support Britons in Sudan despite halt of evacuation flights
The United Kingdom vowed Sunday to maintain support for Britons trapped in Sudan, but said conditions had grown too dangerous to continue evacuation flights.
The final Royal Air Force (RAF) flight left the Wadi Seidna airfield north of Khartoum late on Saturday.
Humanitarian truce extended: RSF
A Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spokesman has said that a humanitarian truce in Sudan has been extended for 72 hours starting at midnight Sunday.
This is the latest in a series of ceasefires announced between the RSF and the Sudanese army.
Civil servants in Khartoum put on ‘open-ended leave’
Local authorities in Khartoum have put civil servants on open-ended leave “due to the security situation”, though the majority of residents have already been hiding at home since the fighting broke out.
Heavy fighting again rocked Sudan’s capital on Sunday as tens of thousands fled the bloody turmoil and army forces clashed with paramilitaries for a third week despite the latest ceasefire, which was formally set to expire at the end of the day.
Buses return to Wadi Karkar station, south of Aswan
The flow of buses to Wadi Karkar station (south of Aswan in southern Egypt) has slowly resumed, with four buses arriving from Halfa now.
Earlier today, Karkar bus station seemed to be abandoned amid unconfirmed reports that the Argeen border crossing was temporarily closed.
Argeen is one of two main crossings along the Egyptian-Sudanese border, where thousands of people escaping fighting in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, have been fleeing to cross into Egypt.
Two-thirds of hospitals in conflict areas are closed: doctors
A national doctors’ association has said more than two-thirds of hospitals in areas with active fighting are out of service because of a shortage of health workers, medical supplies, water and electricity.
Sudan’s healthcare system is near collapse, with dozens of hospitals out of service. Multiple aid agencies have had to suspend operations and evacuate employees.
Saudi FM meets Burhan envoy as ceasefire set to expire
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, whose government has played a part in mediating ceasefires, met Burhan envoy Daffalla al-Haj Ali in Riyadh, the Saudi foreign ministry has said.
“The foreign minister affirmed the Kingdom’s call for calm, prioritising national interest and stopping all forms of military escalation,” the ministry said.
The meeting comes as Sudan’s rival military forces accused each other of new violations of a ceasefire that is set to expire on Sunday as their deadly conflict continued for a third week despite warnings of a slide towards catastrophic civil war.
Locked in a battle for Khartoum, Sudan’s capital on the Nile, the parties have fought on despite a series of ceasefires secured by mediators including the United States, the latest of which expires at midnight (22:00 GMT).
Life-saving medical aid cargo departs to Sudan
Life-saving medical material has departed from Amman, Jordan to Port Sudan as part of emergency operations by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) following the outbreak of conflict in Sudan.
The eight tonnes of humanitarian cargo includes surgical material to support Sudanese hospitals and volunteers from the Sudan Red Crescent Society (SRCS) who are providing medical care to people wounded in the fighting.
“After 14th April, no one has managed to get medical assistance into the country, which is badly needed,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa.
“This medical assistance will hopefully travel quite quickly from Port Sudan and be delivered to the hospitals that are in most need,” said Youssef, adding that this requires a ceasefire to help quickly facilitate deliveries to hospitals and allow medical personnel to do their jobs.
Food market destroyed in Sudan fighting
Fresh food is increasingly hard to come by in Sudan.
This video shows the burned remains of a vegetable market in western Sudan that was destroyed during fighting between the army and RSF.
Turkish man recounts escape from Sudan
Ahmet Tayyip Oksuz was working at a Turkish firm as a deputy manager in Sudan when the conflict broke out there on April 15.
He had been in Sudan for more than a year and a half and had grown to love its culture and people. However, when the violence escalated, he knew he had to leave the country for his own safety.
“On the first day [of the conflict], an incredible silence enveloped the city [Khartoum]. The only sounds audible were those of clashes and bombs. Everyone stayed indoors. People tried to follow the developments on the internet,” Oksuz, 25, recounted in an interview with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
Karkar bus station seemingly abandoned
Karkar bus station south of Aswan in southern Egypt seems to be abandoned amid unconfirmed reports that the Argeen border crossing has been temporarily closed.
Argeen is one of two main crossings along the Egyptian-Sudanese border, where thousands of people escaping fighting in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, have been fleeing to cross into Egypt.