Sudan: Sporadic gunfire in Khartoum despite new truce

Sounds of heavy artillery and gunfire are reported in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman despite a 72-hour, US-brokered truce between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Fighting also breaks out in Geneina in West Darfur, according to local reports.Hundreds of thousands may flee Sudan fighting: UN
The UN refugee agency is making plans for hundreds of thousands of people spilling over Sudan’s borders to escape violence, according to officials.

UNHCR officials told a Geneva briefing they are poised for 270,000 people to flee across Sudan’s borders – a preliminary planning figure that includes Sudanese refugees crossing into South Sudan and Chad, as well as South Sudanese returning home.

The estimate so far only covers two of Sudan’s seven neighbours as projections for Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Libya are not yet ready.Efforts to set up meeting between al-Burhan, Dagalo under way: Newspaper
Egypt’s Al Ahram newspaper reports that efforts are being made to set up a meeting between army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in Saudi Arabia.

Al Jazeera spoke to Shihab Ibrahim, spokesman for the Forces of Freedom and Change, who said the discussions were still in the preliminary stages and relied on the truce holding.

“Saudi Arabia … is trying to present an initiative in coordination with the United States to use this 72-hour truce to convince the two sides that there be a ceasefire first and then negotiations,” Ibrahim said.

The Forces of Freedom and Change is an alliance that spearheaded protests that removed President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.Humanitarian aid in Chad running low: Analyst
An expert in Chad politics says the flow of refugees into Chad from Sudan comes at a time when humanitarian aid was already under stress in the eastern African nation.

“From previous Sudanese conflicts, eastern Chad already hosts 400,000 Sudanese refugees,” Remadji Hoinathy, form the Institute of Security Studies told Al Jazeera from the Chadian capital N’Djamena.

“Chad is very willing to receive the [new] refugees. But the challenge is … it is happening in the context where the World Food Programme is saying there are difficulties in providing for refugees that already in the country,” he added.

“It is a situation that is already putting the international help system in Chad under stress.”Ukraine evacuates 138 people from Sudan to Egypt
Ukraine has said it has evacuated 138 people, including 87 of its citizens, to Egypt from Sudan.

“A total of 138 citizens were saved … all evacuees are safe in Egypt,” the main intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Telegram.Many fear Khartoum will become a ‘war zone’: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Mohamed el-Tayeb, reporting from Khartoum, says many residents are willing to flee, expecting the fighting to intensify once the evacuation of foreigners was complete.

“They feel it will become a war zone. But many simply don’t have the means to leave Khartoum,” he added.Fighting will have ‘massive consequences’ for healthcare: Doctor
An American-Sudanese doctor says the state of the healthcare system in Sudan, which was already in serious trouble before the conflict, has worsened.

“This [conflict] come on top of a broken and completely defunded healthcare system without any public infrastructure that was damaged after 30 years of dictatorship,” Nada Fadul told Al Jazeera from Nebraska.

“For this war to hit a country like Sudan now will have massive consequences for the healthcare system. What I am hearing from my colleagues is that they can’t find sutures [to treat wounds] … or blood bags for people are who willing to donate.”

“The situation is horrible,” she added.

Most refugees travelling to South Sudan, Chad: UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ regional spokesperson Faith Kasina says most of the refugees fleeing Sudan have travelled to South Sudan and Chad.

“We currently don’t have any reports of people arriving in other neighbouring countries,” she said from Nairobi.

“We do know of people moving into Egypt … we are working with authorities to verify.”

Kasina said the UNHCR had set up registration centres at border crossings and was providing suitable shelters to facilitate people arriving.

WHO says ‘high risk of biological hazard’ after laboratory seized
The World Health Organization representative in Sudan says there is a “high risk of biological hazard” after one of the sides in the Sudan fighting seized a laboratory.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link, Nima Saeed Abid said at least 459 people had been killed in fighting in Sudan and 4,072 injured.