Smoke over the Sudanese capital Khartoum in this picture taken on April 22, 2023.
Khartoum – During the fighting in Sudan, militants seized a laboratory with pathogens of measles, cholera and other dangerous materials. It is not clear whether these are members of the army or paramilitary units of the RSF. With reference to the World Health Organization (WHO), Reuters reported on this today. According to the WHO, technical personnel cannot now get into the Khartoum laboratory, so biological material and other substances remain unsecured, which poses a great risk. Fighting continues in the country today despite a 72-hour ceasefire confirmed by the military on Monday.
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” The fighters expelled all the technicians from the laboratory… it is now completely under the control of one of the warring parties and is being used as a military base,” WHO representative Níma Saíd Abid said, according to The Guardian. He added that there is a huge biological risk associated with occupying the laboratory.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had to withdraw from the most at-risk areas of Sudan due to intense fighting. At least five aid workers have lost their lives as a result of the fighting in the country. Two UN agencies, the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), have suspended operations due to the death of staff in Sudan.
Fighting again in Sudan, Germany announces last evacuation flight
Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) flared up again in Sudan today after a temporary lull. It was reported by Al Jazeera television and The Guardian newspaper, referring to the testimony of local residents, who spoke of airstrikes and shelling by heavy artillery. Germany has announced that it will conduct its final evacuation flight tonight. China said it had evacuated most of its citizens. The evacuation was initiated by Britain, which has 4,000 citizens in the country. France and Ukraine confirmed the departure of several hundred civilians. The UN warned today of the most acute shortage of food, water, medicine and fuel, especially in the metropolis of Khartoum.
Fighting between the army and the RSF broke out in Sudan on 15 April. They turned residential areas into war zones and claimed the lives of at least 427 people. A large number of hospitals were out of order due to the conflict.
The initial ceasefire was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Sudanese army and the RSF, after two days of intense negotiations, had agreed to a three-day ceasefire effective from midnight Monday to today. The warring parties also did not observe the previous truce.
Apparently due to the heavy fighting again, Britain informed its citizens in Sudan to report to an air base on the outskirts of Khartoum as soon as possible. The country has promised to evacuate only British passport holders and their family members.
According to a BBC source, the British are supposed to travel to the base on their own axis. “It has to be an individual decision. Once you're in place, hopefully we'll get you on the plane as soon as possible,” the source said. According to the source, about 500 people could be evacuated in this way. The British government estimated on Monday that it has 4,000 nationals in Sudan. She took the diplomats and their families out of the country on Saturday. Other Britons who remained in Sudan then accused their government of abandoning them.
Germany said today that the evacuation flight from Sudan to Jordan, scheduled to depart tonight, will be the last for now. German citizens who remain in the country are to be evacuated by partner countries.
According to Monday's announcement by the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, more than 1,000 citizens of EU member states were evacuated from Sudan. According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, which confirmed the arrival of two Czechs evacuated by Germany on Monday, there are still four Czech citizens in Sudan.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced today that France has evacuated 538 people from Sudan, including 209 French citizens . On Monday, Paris announced that it had closed its embassy in the country until further notice.
Ukraine's HUR military intelligence said it evacuated 138 civilians, including 87 Ukrainian citizens, most of them pilots, aircraft mechanics and their families. In addition, Kyiv also helped to get several citizens of Georgia and Peru out of the country. They are now in Egypt, where they are receiving medical care.
Japan, China and South Africa have confirmed the successful evacuation of most of the citizens. She has another 12 citizens in the country who are supposed to leave Sudan today.
Switzerland said it was monitoring options for taking away its remaining citizens, but that it was problematic for dual nationals, who make up the majority of the remaining Swiss in Sudan. Switzerland closed its embassy in Sudan and evacuated its staff. The diplomats and their families arrived in Bern early this morning.
According to Lavrov, Sudan has the right to use the services of Russian mercenaries
Sudan has the right to use the services of the private Russian mercenary Wagner Group, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters today on the sidelines of the UN Security Council meeting. Russia currently chairs the Security Council, and Lavrov is leading today's meeting in New York. At the same time, according to Reuters, the Russian minister criticized the West at a press conference for what he believed to have brought negotiations on the export of Ukrainian grain to a standstill.
Lavrov stated that he saw no reason why Sudan would not use the services of the Wagner group. He emphasized that this organization is private. However, its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is known for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and members of the group are participating in the Russian invasion of Ukraine together with the Russian army.
Lavrov described the situation in Sudan as a tragedy. He also stated that the division of this African country is the long-term concern of the United States.
According to an earlier CNN report, Wagner's group supplied the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Units (RSF) with rockets and other equipment to fight the Sudanese army. Fighting in Sudan, which erupted on April 15, has claimed at least 459 lives and injured 4,072, according to a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO). export of grain from blocked Ukrainian ports. The agreement between Ukraine and Russia last summer was helped by the UN and Turkey. The contract has since been extended several times, most recently until May 18. Moscow has repeatedly threatened not to grant further extensions unless progress is made in meeting Russian demands to remove obstacles to the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. Lavrov said there had been “practically no results” in this regard and accused the West of bringing the agreement to a “dead end”.
