On Saturday evening, the army and militia fought heavy battles near the city center.
(Photo: AP)
Khartoum The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has flown around eight tons of medical supplies to battle-torn Sudan. The organization’s first international aid transport since heavy fighting began two weeks ago will help care for thousands of people who have suffered gunshot wounds, the ICRC said on Sunday. The relief supplies – including anesthetics, bandages and surgical material – were brought by plane from Jordan to the port city of Port Sudan. Another machine with additional supplies and emergency services should follow soon, it said.
Meanwhile, there was hope that a three-day ceasefire between the two parties to the conflict, which was due to expire on Monday night, could be extended. The paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Sunday afternoon that they were in favor of extending the ceasefire by 72 hours for humanitarian reasons. The armed forces initially did not comment.
The ceasefire temporarily brought a certain normality back to parts of the embattled capital Khartoum over the weekend. Eyewitnesses reported that the police were patrolling the streets again – among other things to prevent looting. Only a few shots were heard. However, there were also reports of sporadic fighting from some parts of the city. The two parties to the conflict accused each other of not complying with the ceasefire.
In the north-east African country with around 46 million inhabitants, the de facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been fighting with the help of the armed forces since April 15 against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the influential RSF paramilitaries. The two generals had taken over the leadership of Sudan through two joint military coups in 2019 and 2021.
According to the Sudanese Medical Committee, many hospitals are no longer functional as a result of the fighting. In addition, there is a lack of medicines, medical goods and blood supplies. According to the authorities, the fighting has already killed more than 500 people and injured almost 5,000.
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