2023-04-30 17:33:00
According to the paramilitary RSF militia, the ceasefire in Sudan has been extended again by 72 hours. A spokesman for the RSF militia announced on Sunday that it would apply for a further three days after the end of the previous ceasefire from midnight. The aim is to keep humanitarian corridors open so that people can get essentials and get to safe areas. The decision is a reaction to international and regional demands.
The army initially had no comment. The ceasefire remained fragile even on Sunday. Army and RSF militia again accused each other of breaking the ceasefire. In Sudan, army units under the command of military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have been fighting the RSF militia led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo for the past two weeks. According to official figures, more than 500 people have been killed and around 4,600 injured in the fighting. The actual number of victims is believed to be much higher. Countless people are also on the run because of the fighting. Western countries have taken their citizens to safety by plane or ship.
Medical supplies for the first time
Meanwhile, a Red Cross aid flight landed in the north-east African country for the first time on Sunday. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said eight tons of life-saving medical supplies had been transported to Bur Sudan. According to the information, the plane coming from Jordan included surgical instruments to support Sudanese hospitals and for the volunteers of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS), who provide medical care to people injured in fighting. Anesthetics and wound dressings were also delivered.
Both the European Commission and the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned on Sunday that the conflict in Sudan and its effects on the region would escalate. “There is a real risk that the crisis will spread to neighboring countries in the region,” Janez Lenarcic, the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Crisis Management, told Welt am Sonntag. Other states that are “extremely fragile” border Sudan. “The consequences would be disastrous. Nobody can want that – that’s why the first priority must be to bring the two warring parties to their senses,” he said.
The ongoing violence in Sudan could also plunge the entire region into a humanitarian crisis. “Even before the fighting broke out, a third of the country’s population was starving, now there is a shortage of everything and food prices are skyrocketing,” said WFP Germany director Martin Frick. Similar price increases are also occurring in the neighboring countries of Chad and South Sudan.
Both countries have taken in thousands of refugees since the fighting began in Sudan. “In South Sudan, which is sinking into floods due to the climate and drying up elsewhere, food prices have risen by 28 percent in a very short time,” said Frick. Added to this is the tense situation in the Horn of Africa, where after six failed rainy seasons, the need is also at a record level. (apa)
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