KHARTOUM: Foreign nations pushed on Monday with evacuations of their citizens from chaos-torn Sudan which, the UN chief warned, is on "the edge of the abyss" after 10 days of brutal fighting between rival forces.
But millions of Sudanese are unable to flee battles between the army and paramilitary troops clashing again in Khartoum and across the country. They are trying to survive acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and Internet blackouts.
The United States and multiple 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.
At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies, which reported Sudanese civilians "fleeing areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan".
"Morgues are full. Corpses litter the streets" said Attiya Abdallah, head of the doctors' union, which on Monday reported scores more casualties after sites in south Khartoum were "heavily shelled".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the violence in Sudan -- already one of the world's poorest countries, with a history of military coups -- "could engulf the whole region and beyond".
"We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss," Guterres said, calling again for a ceasefire. Britain has requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sudan, which is expected to take place on Tuesday, according to a diplomat.
A UN convoy carrying 700 people completed an arduous 850 km road trip to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast from the capital, where they left behind gunfire and explosions.
The United Nations head of mission Volker Perthes said the convoy arrived safely.
"Thirty-five hours in a not so comfortable convoy are certainly better than three hours' bombing and sitting under the shells," he said.
A UN statement separately said he and other key staff will "remain in Sudan and will continue to work towards a resolution to the current crisis".
With Khartoum airport disabled after battles that left charred aircraft on the tarmac, many foreigners were airlifted out from smaller airstrips, to countries including Djibouti and Jordan.
US special forces swooped in with Chinook helicopters on Sunday to rescue diplomats and their dependents, while Britain launched a similar rescue mission.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 1,000 EU citizens had been taken out during a "long and intense weekend" involving airlift missions by France, Germany and others.
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".
The capital, a city of five million, has endured "more than a week of unspeakable destruction", Norway's Ambassador Endre Stiansen wrote on Twitter after his evacuation. SEE ALSO P6
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