KHARTOUM: Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, has said that he was sending his emergency relief chief to Sudan amid the “unprecedented” situation as the Sudan warring factions continue to fight despite saying they would extend the barely respected 72-hour ceasefire that ended at midnight on Sunday.
“The speed and scale of what is unfolding in Sudan has unprecedented in the country,” Guterres wrote on Twitter as he introduced his decision on Sunday. “In light of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis, I’m sending @UNReliefChief to the region immediately,” Guterres tweeted.
UN relief chief Griffiths said that Sudan’s humanitarian condition was “reaching breaking point”, necessary items were becoming increasingly scarce, especially in Khartoum, and citizens were struggling to find food, water and fuel. He added the rising transport cost was making it impossible for the poorest to reach safer locations.
He said, “I’m on my way to the region to explore how we can bring speedy relief to the millions of citizens whose lives have turned upside down overnight,” reiterating the need to stop fighting.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan’s military said that they would extend the much-breached ceasefire for 72 hours. The Rapid Support Forces said its decision was “in response to world, regional and local calls”.
The military hoped what it called the “rebels” would abide by a deal, but it believed they intended to continue their attacks. The warring parties kept fighting through the ceasefires secured by mediators, including the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Over 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands forced to leave their houses within the country and across borders since a long-simmering conflict between the armed forces and the
Rapid Support Forces erupted into violence on 15 April. The fighting in Khartoum has so far seen Rapid Support Forces fan out across the city and the military using drones and jets to hit the group, pounding the city from the skies.
UN attempts to provide relief
Several foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate their people from the country. Griffiths said the United Nations attempts to provide relief had been complicated by looting humanitarian departments and warehouses, which depleted most of our supplies; other options were being urgently explored.
Mohamed Alamin Ahmed, the Sudanese journalist in Khartoum, told Al Jazeera that people had several reasons to escape the capital.
He said, “Citizens are fleeing Khartoum not only because of the human condition and the bombs that have fallen on homes of people because of air strikes and random shelling, but also because of looting people in the streets, and even inside their houses,”
