Khartoum witnessed air raids and gunfire on Saturday, while the evacuation of thousands of foreigners from Sudan continued, as the battles between the army and the Rapid Support Forces entered their third week, despite the declared armistice and international efforts to stop the fighting.

Sudan has plunged into chaos since the bloody struggle for power erupted in mid-April between army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, nicknamed "Hemedti".

The war left at least 528 dead and 4,599 wounded, according to figures announced by the Ministry of Health on Saturday, but the toll is likely to be higher.

About 75,000 people have been displaced to neighboring countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, while foreign countries are organizing large-scale evacuations.

In this context, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, expressed his regret at the continuation of the fighting while “the country is collapsing,” according to what he said in a statement to the Saudi news channel, Al-Arabiya.

The two parties to the conflict exchange accusations of violating the armistice, which was extended for three days under international mediation, and ends Sunday at midnight (22:00 GMT).

Residents trying to flee or staying in their homes suffer comprehensive crises, with water and electricity cuts and food shortages.
"We woke up again to the sounds of warplanes and anti-aircraft guns all over the neighborhood," a resident of southern Khartoum told AFP.

Another witness confirmed that the fighting has been going on since dawn, especially around the headquarters of the public television channel in the suburb of Omdurman, north of Khartoum.

And the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate announced that 70% of the health facilities in the areas close to the fighting sites are out of service, and many of them are under bombardment.

The two warring generals exchanged accusations through the media on Friday.

On the American Al-Hurra channel, Al-Burhan described the RSF as a "militia that seeks to destroy Sudan," stressing the influx of "mercenaries" from Chad, the Central African Republic and Niger.

As for Daglo, for his part, he spoke on the "BBC" channel about his opponent, describing him as a "traitor," considering that he is "not trustworthy."

In 2021, Al-Burhan and Daglo overthrew their civilian partners, after sharing power with them since the fall of President Omar Al-Bashir in 2019.

However, differences soon emerged between them and escalated, the most prominent of which was the conditions for integrating the Rapid Support Forces into the army, before it developed into an armed conflict on April 15th.

The UN representative in Sudan, Volker Berthes, told Al-Jazeera that there was "no indication" of the outbreak of fighting on April 15, especially since the two parties to the conflict were scheduled to meet on the aforementioned day.

On Saturday, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, a historic mediator in Sudan, called on the two generals to hold a "constructive and concrete direct dialogue".

He also urged them not to "attempt to reinforce positions," noting that many observers noted that any truce did not hold because neither side to the conflict wanted to allow the other an opportunity to advance or bring in reinforcements.

And former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok warned on Saturday that the conflict in Sudan could escalate into one of the worst civil wars in the world if it is not put to an end.

And if the truce did not put an end to the fighting, it allowed the humanitarian corridors to remain open. In this context, a convoy organized by the United States allowed the evacuation of American citizens and from other countries to Port Sudan (east).

From the aforementioned place, a ship carrying about 1,900 people of different nationalities arrived in Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

And Saudi Arabia announced that, in total, about 4,879 of its citizens and citizens of 96 other countries had been evacuated through the Kingdom.

Mehrdad Malekzadeh, 28, who grew up in Sudan, was one of the first Iranians to be evacuated on Saturday. In Jeddah, he described to AFP the daily shelling and explosions in Khartoum, saying, "We never imagined that the situation would become so tense."

Britain's Foreign Office said fewer than 1,900 Britons had been evacuated on 21 flights, including a final flight that was due to leave on Saturday.

A statement issued by the US State Department announced that a convoy comprising US citizens, local employees and citizens of allied countries arrived in Port Sudan on Saturday, with the continuation of the evacuation process from war-torn Sudan.

The statement issued by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller did not specify the number of people in the convoy.

For its part, Canada said that "the window of opportunity is narrowing," and Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said, "We continue to evaluate various options for the evacuation of Canadians, including through land and sea routes."

She added that "more than 375 Canadians" have been evacuated from Sudan, and about 300 others are still waiting for assistance to get out of the country.

The World Food Program expects millions more people to face hunger in one of the world's poorest countries, where nearly a third of Sudan's 45 million people needed food assistance before the war broke out.

In West Darfur, at least 96 people have been killed since Monday in El Geneina, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which described the situation as "serious".

Looting, destruction and arson are increasing, including inside camps for the displaced, according to Doctors Without Borders, which was forced to "stop almost all of its work in West Darfur" because of the violence, according to the organization's deputy director in Sudan, Sylvain Peron.

In a statement, Peron warned that his organization is "very concerned about the impact of violence on those who have already suffered waves of violence."
The Darfur region witnessed a bloody war that began in 2003 between the Bashir regime and rebels belonging to ethnic minorities, killing 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million others, according to the United Nations.