Fighting in Khartoum as mediators search end to Sudan battle

By Reuters: Fighting could be heard in south Khartoum on Sunday as envoys from Sudan’s combatants met in Saudi Arabia for talks that worldwide mediators hope will convey an end to a three-week-old battle that has killed tons of and triggered an exodus.

The US-Saudi initiative is the first extreme attempt to end combating between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that has turned parts of the Sudanese capital into battle zones, derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest, and created a humanitarian catastrophe.

“Pre-negotiation” talks began on Saturday and “will continue in the coming days in the expectation of reaching an effective short-term ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian assistance,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry talked about in an announcement.

Saudi Arabia will allocate $100 million in humanitarian help to Sudan, Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya television talked about earlier on Sunday.

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Battles since mid-April have killed tons of of people and wounded 1000’s of others, disrupted help gives and despatched 100,000 refugees fleeing abroad.

Manahil Salah, a 28-year-old laboratory doctor on an evacuation flight from Port Sudan to the United Arab Emirates, talked about her family hid for 3 days of their residence close to army headquarters inside the capital sooner than in the end travelling to the Red Sea Coast.

“Yes, I am happy to survive,” she talked about. “But I feel deep sadness because I left my mother and father behind in Sudan, and sad because all this pain is happening in my homeland.”

Thousands of people are pushing to go away from Port Sudan on boats to Saudi Arabia, paying for pricey industrial flights by way of the nation’s solely functioning airport, or using evacuation flights.

“We were lucky to travel to Abu Dhabi, but what’s happening in Khartoum, where I spent my whole life, is painful,” talked about 75-year-old Abdulkader, who moreover caught an evacuation flight to the UAE. “Leaving your life and your memories is something indescribable.”

ALSO READ | Fighting on in Khartoum as mediation in Saudi underway to resolve Sudan catastrophe