On Monday evening, the United States announced a 72-hour ceasefire between the belligerents. The human toll, still very provisional, amounts to more than 420 dead and 3,700 injured, according to WHO estimates.
Thousands of refugees and a catastrophic humanitarian situation. Nearly ten days after the start of fighting in Sudan, on April 15, the country is plunged into chaos. The army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, ruler of Sudan since the putsch of 2021, faces the paramilitaries of his deputy who has become a rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, who commands the Rapid Support Forces (FSR). The two belligerents have concluded a ceasefire which should begin on Tuesday and last 72 hours, the United States announced on Monday evening April 24.
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Combat report, management of the humanitarian crisis, evacuation of foreign nationals. Franceinfo takes stock of the situation in the country.
A ceasefire announced
The head of the American diplomacy Anthony Blinken announced, Monday evening, the conclusion of a ceasefire supposed to start at midnight, Tuesday, and last 72 hours. The result of 48 hours of negotiations, he explained in a press release. Earlier, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, had called for a truce for “pull Sudan away from the precipice” and avoid an extension of the conflict to neighboring countries.
“During this period, the United States expects the army and the RSF to fully and immediately respect this ceasefire”added Anthony Blinken who, on Twitterwelcomed the commitment of both parties to “to work (…) for a permanent cessation of hostilities and for humanitarian arrangements”.
Many countries are evacuating their nationals
It is time to flee for a large part of the foreign citizens and diplomats stuck in Sudan. Although explosions and gunshots have not ceased to resonate in the country this weekend, foreign capitals have managed to negotiate passages with the two belligerents.
The United States thus evacuated its diplomatic personnel from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, during a helicopter operation, announced President Joe Biden on Saturday evening. “Several dozen Americans are part of a UN convoy heading for the port of Sudan by land”, a White House spokesman said Monday. Over a thousand European Union (EU) nationals were evacuated from Sudan during a “complex operation”, also said Monday the head of his diplomacy Josep Borrell.
Saudi Arabia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Chad, Lebanon , Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway, Spain and China have also announced that they have undertaken the evacuation of their nationals or plan to do so soon.
South Korea and Japan, for their part, scheduled Friday to send military planes to carry out the evacuations. In Indonesia, the government says it takes “all necessary measures” and India ensures finally work”to ensure the safe movement of the stranded Indians”.
In the United Kingdom, the government is coming under heavy criticism for its management of the crisis, while on Monday only a few Britons were able to leave Sudan during various evacuation missions carried out by other countries, including France. .
France closes its embassy, the UN remains in Sudan
France, for its part, evacuated nearly 491 people, including 196 French people, by ensuring several air rotations between Khartoum and Djibouti since Sunday, French diplomacy said on Monday, which then announced the closure of its embassy. “until further notice”. The French community in Sudan counts “250 people”explained Sunday on franceinfo the spokesperson for the Quai d’Orsay, “but not all nationals wish to leave the country”.
The embassy is no longer “a regrouping point” for those wishing to flee the fighting in the Sudanese capital, said the ministry spokeswoman. Diplomatic staff “will continue its activities from Paris, under the responsibility of the ambassador”.
The UN for its part said that its envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, remained in the country, while hundreds of its employees had been evacuated to Port Sudan, on the coast spared from the violence. “The UN is not planning to leave Sudan”, he announced.
An already heavy human toll and thousands of displaced people
The human toll, still very provisional, amounts to more than 420 dead and 3,700 injured, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO). communicated on Saturday (in English). “There were 14 attacks on health personnel, killing eight people and injuring two”the statement said. “Doctors are often unable to access the injured and the injured cannot reach the facilities,” WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.
.@WHO estimates that many lives could have been saved in #Sudan if basic access to haemorrhage control was available to people harmed in the ongoing fighting. But paramedics, frontline nurses & doctors are often unable to access the wounded & the injured cannot reach facilities.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 23, 2023
On Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, announced the death of one of its humanitarian workers, victim of an exchange of fire south of El Obeid. Earlier, three World Food Program (WFP) staff were killed in western Darfur on the first day of fighting on April 15. At the same time, theUN denounces “looting, attacks and sexual violence against humanitarian workers”which would take place since the beginning of the conflict.
According to Jérôme Tubiana, researcher specializing in Sudan and adviser to the operations of Médecins sans frontières (MSF), who spoke at the microphone of franceinfo on Sunday, the humanitarian workers who lost their lives in this conflict “rather seem to be collateral victims”, as in any conflict, but “NGOs can be targets”, he nuances.
This violence has already displaced tens of thousands of people to other parts of Sudan, or to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt. Before the fighting, Cairo was already hosting nearly five million Sudanese fleeing poverty or violence, while the two countries have a free movement agreement, recalls the BBC (article in English). The fighting in Sudan is likely to“to invade the whole region and beyond”warned the UN Secretary General on Monday, calling once again for a ceasefire for “pull Sudan away from the precipice”.
A complex humanitarian situation
In this country of 45 million inhabitants, more than a third of the population suffered from hunger even before the start of the fighting between the regular army and the paramilitaries of the FSR, according to the WFP. Living conditions are probably worse in Darfur, the scene of a terrible conflict in the 2000s and where the fighting is particularly violent, reports RFI. The cessation of operations by most humanitarian organizations, targeted by the fighting, could well further aggravate an already very tense situation. Today inaccessible, the region is once again prey to looting, attacks and abuses.
“The other problem is the lack of medicines and equipment”, laments Jérôme Tubiana. On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said its office in the Darfur region and a warehouse storing medicine and aid north of Khartoum had been looted, reports the New York Times (article in English reserved for subscribers). Fuel and food are also scarce in the country. Finally, on Sunday, internet and telephone services were down over a large part of the territory, reports The Guardian (article reserved for subscribers).