KHARTOUM: Multiple nations pushed on Monday with frantic evacuations of their citizens from chaos-torn Sudan, where fighting raged for a 10th day between forces loyal to two rival generals.
As army and paramilitary forces again clashed in Khartoum and across the country, terrified Sudanese have endured acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts, the UN said.
At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to United Nations agencies, which also reported Sudanese civilians "fleeing areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan".
"Morgues are full, corpses litter the streets" and overwhelmed hospitals often have to stop operations for security reasons, said Dr Attiya Abdallah, head of the doctors' union.
The United States and European, Middle Eastern, African and Asian nations have launched emergency missions to bring to safety their embassy staff and Sudan-based citizens by road, air and sea.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 1,000 of the bloc's citizens had been taken out during a "long and intense weekend" involving missions by France, Germany and other member nations.
With Khartoum international airport disabled after battles that left charred airplanes on the runways, many foreigners were airlifted out from smaller airstrips and taken to safety in countries including Djibouti and Jordan.
China said on Monday it had "safely evacuated" a first group of citizens and would "try every means to protect the lives, properties and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan".
Long convoys of UN cars and buses have made their way from the capital, where gunfire and explosions have echoed through the streets, to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, an arduous 850 kilometre road trip away.
As foreigners who can get out flee the country, the growing impact of the violence on Sudan's already dire humanitarian situation worsens.
Five aid workers have been killed, said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to suspend operations.
The health care system is close to collapse, with the World Health Organization (WHO) verifying 11 attacks on hospitals and clinics, some of which have been overrun by the rival forces and used as military bases. — AFP
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