This is the situation on Sunday, April 23, 2023:
To fight
- Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said from the capital that after a brief lull in hostilities last night, heavy fighting resumed this morning, with plumes of smoke rising over Khartoum’s skyline.
- Residents of the city of Omdurman, the northwestern twin of the capital, also report heavy shelling and airstrikes.
Civilians and victims
- The UN says more than 400 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in the fighting.
- Thousands of people are fleeing both Khartoum and Darfur and seeking refuge in neighboring Chad.
- Widespread food, water and electricity shortages persist.
- The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors and the Sudanese Doctors Union estimate that 70 percent, or 39 of 59 hospitals, have been closed in Khartoum and nearby states.
- Reports of the worst violence come from Darfur. A UN update on Saturday said looters seized at least 10 World Food Program vehicles and six other food trucks after taking over the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala, South Darfur.
- Doctors Without Borders requested safe passage. “We need gateways where we can bring specialist trauma personnel and medical supplies,” said Abdalla Hussein, Sudan operations manager for the medical charity.
- More than 150 students from the International University of Africa in Khartoum have arrived in Gadarif in the southeast so they can be evacuated to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to government sources.
- In the town of Darduk, north of Khartoum, people have gathered overnight to call for an end to hostilities.
- According to the organization NetBlocks, the internet connection has almost completely failed in Sudan.
Diplomacy
- France has begun evacuating its citizens and diplomatic personnel from Sudan.
- The US military has evacuated US embassy staff from Khartoum, President Joe Biden said late Saturday, calling for an end to “unconscionable” fighting in Sudan’s capital between the army and the RSF.
- Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra has announced that the Netherlands has also joined an international effort to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.
- The UK says it “integratedin the operations of international partners to evacuate personnel.
- Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Jordan will use the same route to evacuate its nationals.
- South Korea says there is a military aircraft in Djibouti and arrangements will be made to evacuate nationals.