Sudan updates: WHO says 60% of Khartoum health centres closed

Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has given initial approval to the proposal by the regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to extend a truce for 72 hours and send an army envoy to the South Sudan capital, Juba, for talks, an army statement says.

The proposal suggests sending both army and Rapid Support Forces envoys to Juba to discuss the details.

Fifteen Syrians have been killed as a result of the conflict in Sudan, Sham FM, a radio and TV station, cited the charge d’affaires of the Syrian Embassy in Sudan as saying.

No injuries were reported among Syrian expats, said the diplomat, adding that all members of the diplomatic missions there are safe.

A state of emergency has been declared in Khartoum with tens of thousands of people trying to leave Sudan as there is no sign the fighting has eased.

Both the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, say they are in control. Aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian crisis as Sudanese cross into neighbouring countries.

A wanted Sudanese war crimes suspect, Ahmed Haroun, has confirmed that he and other members of the former government deposed in 2019 have escaped from prison during the recent fighting, raising new fears for a fragile ceasefire.

Fuel shortages, the soaring cost of food and a growing number of hospitals bombed out of service are worsening the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan.

Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig reports.

Canada’s Defence Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa has positioned two C-130 Hercules aircraft near Sudan to evacuate Canadians from the North African country once conditions on the ground permit.

“There are conditions that we are monitoring very closely, one of which is the space at the airport, another is to ensure that Canadians are able to get to the airport in a secure manner,” Anand told reporters in Ottawa.

Hiba Morgan, Al Jazeera reporter in Khartoum, says many people have left the Sudanese capital to escape the conflict.

“Khartoum has become a ghost city. That is the best description one can give. At one time, there were eight million people calling it home. Now, thousands and thousands are trying to leave the city,” Morgan said.

“People, whenever they get the opportunity, they try to flee. In parts of the city, people are afraid to venture out even to get the basic needs. Those who can, they say they find the prices in the market very hard them to afford,” she added.

The full scale of displacement in Sudan has been difficult to measure so far, humanitarian workers have said.

Joyce Msuya, the assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the UN has received reports “of tens of thousands of people arriving in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan”.

Mohammed Mahdi, of the International Rescue Committee, warned that resources were growing thin at the Tunaydbah refugee camp in eastern Sudan after 3,000 people fleeing Khartoum took refuge there, joining some 28,000 refugees from Ethiopia.

At least 20,000 people have fled from Khartoum to the city of Wad Madani, 160km (99 miles) to the south, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Some 20,000 Sudanese have fled to Chad and about 4,000 South Sudanese refugees living in Sudan have returned home, according to the UN refugee agency, which is gearing up for tens of thousands more to flee to neighbouring countries.

More than 60 percent of healthcare facilities in Khartoum are closed due to the conflict in Sudan, the World Health Organization has said.

“In the capital, Khartoum, 61 percent of health facilities are closed and only 16 percent are operating as normal,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference from the UN health agency headquarters in Geneva.

Nigeria says it has started evacuating the first of about 3,500 of its nationals, mostly students, from Sudan to neighbouring Egypt.

“The evacuation of our citizens has commenced. Seven buses have left Khartoum and they are heading to Egypt,” Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told the AFP news agency.

Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters 40 buses have been hired to transport Nigerian citizens to Egypt, though the trip from Khartoum will take time.

“The distance is quite considerable. We need a couple of days to evacuate everybody,” he said.

The World Health Organization says it is assessing the threat posed to public health after fighters in Sudan occupied a national laboratory holding samples of deadly diseases.

“We are also concerned that those occupying the lab could be accidentally exposed to pathogens stored there,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva.

“WHO is seeking more information and conducting a risk assessment,” he added.

A ceasefire between the two armed groups battling for control of Africa’s third-largest country appeared to be largely holding on Wednesday. The fighting has seen millions of people caught in the crossfire and sent many, including foreigners, racing to flee as it threatens to spiral into a civil war.

Ahmed Haroun was the head of the governing National Congress Party and among dozens of Sudanese officials who were arrested in 2019 following a popular uprising and military coup that toppled the government of former President Omar al-Bashir.

In an audio statement, Haroun said they had left the prison with limited protection after they were unable to obtain a judicial order for their release.

Jacques Davis, a communications officer at the World Food Programme, says urgent funding is needed to help the Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad.

“Here, the situation is very complicated for all these newly arrived people,” Davis told Al Jazeera from Koufroun in Chad near the border with Sudan.

“Now, we have distributed food for 1,200 people. The distribution will go on tomorrow. We need massive funding to keep on feeding all the people here. If we don’t have this funding it might be very very complicated for us to keep on feeding all the refugees that are here,” he added.

The US says a second American has died in Sudan amid continuing violence between warring parties.

“We can confirm the death of a second American citizen yesterday. We extend our deepest condolences to the family,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

At least 459 people, including civilians and fighters, have been killed, and more than 4,000 wounded since fighting began, the UN health agency said, citing Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health.

The Doctors’ Syndicate which which tracks civilian casualties, said at least 295 civilians were killed and 1,790 others injured.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it expects more deaths to occur in Sudan due to outbreaks of disease and a lack of essential services amid intense fighting.

“On top of the number of deaths and injuries caused by the conflict itself, the WHO expects there will be many more deaths due to outbreaks, lack of access to food and water and disruptions to essential health services, including immunization,” WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

Tedros said only 16 percent of health facilities were functioning in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Ahmed Idriss, Al Jazeera correspondent reporting from Koufroun in Chad near the border with Sudan, says hundreds of Sudanese refugees have crossed the border and are sleeping in the open.

“Many of the refugees are telling us they haven’t eaten for the past few days. Situation is getting more and more desperate here. They are looking for food, shelters and others are seeking medical attention,” Idriss said.

“The United Nation aid agencies are trying to distribute food items. Most of the people we see here are women and children and they tell us they are not hopeful of returning to Sudan,’ he added.

UN says at least 20,000 refugees from Sudan have crossed into Chad.

Hamsa Alfakri, a Norwegian Refugee Council employee in Khartoum, says the situation in the Sudanese capital is deteriorating.

“It’s day 11, and it’s getting worse and worse. Armed men are entering civilian houses to take cover, forcing civilians to leave their houses. They turned our neighbourhood into a warzone,” Alfakri said.

“Many banks have been robbed. Gold shops, factories, pharmacies, supermarkets – all types of shops are being robbed. The biggest flour factory in Sudan was hit and set on fire for two days in a row,” Alfakri added.

Here in Khartoum, we still don’t have access to clean water, electricity or food. My family is panicking and wants to leave Sudan, as well. I don’t know when this will end or how will it end, but I know that I don’t want to leave my country, I don’t want to leave these people behind. Yes, it’s not safe, but the rest of the world isn’t safe either,” he added.

The United Kingdom has evacuated 301 people from conflict-ridden Sudan and the aim is to reach a total of eight British evacuation flights by the end of Wednesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said.

The UK began a large-scale evacuation of its citizens on Tuesday, following other nations in pulling people out of Sudan where violent clashes between the army and a paramilitary group called Rapid Support Forces have killed hundreds of people and stranded foreigners.

As foreign diplomats evacuate Sudan in the middle of fierce fighting, millions of civilians are being left behind to survive as best as they can, leaving many frustrated at what they see as an armed conflict between previously Western-backed generals.

Sudanese analysts and activists who spoke to Al Jazeera blamed Western officials for emboldening and legitimising the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, and the army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the two men embroiled in a deadly armed conflict since April 15.

Read more here.

Growing up in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medicine student Khamis Jouda has survived numerous wars, but says he has experienced nothing like the violence he witnessed in Khartoum this month.

“We have seen things we had never seen before. Everyone feared for his life,” said Jouda, 25, who was evacuated from the Sudanese capital on Tuesday by bus along with dozens of other Palestinians.

Speaking to Reuters by phone at dawn as they waited at the border to cross into Egypt from Sudan, other Palestinian evacuees said they saw bodies in the streets, looting, and fights among residents, some of whom were armed.

Want to get caught up on what is happening in Sudan? Start Here.

Al Jazeera’s Sandra Gathmann explains why one-time allies are battling for control of Sudan.

Sudanese in Khartoum and the neighbouring city of Omdurman have reported sporadic clashes between the military and the RSF but said the intensity of fighting had dwindled on the second day of a three-day truce.

Many residents of the capital emerged from their homes to seek food and water, lining up at bakeries or grocery stores, witnesses said. Some inspected shops or homes that had been destroyed or looted. Others joined the tens of thousands who have been streaming out of the city in recent days.

“There is a sense of calm in my area and neighbourhoods,” said Mahasen Ali, a tea vendor who lives in Khartoum’s southern neighbourhood of May. “But all are afraid of what’s next.”

She said despite the relative lull, the sound of gunfire and explosions could still be heard in the city.