Clashes in Sudan as UN aid chief visits

Clashes in Sudan as UN aid chief visits

KHARTOUM: Persistent fighting between Sudan’s rival generals undermined efforts to firm up a truce Wednesday, as a senior UN official arrived for talks on providing relief to millions of trapped civilians. The visit by top UN humanitarian official Martin Griffiths comes one day after neighbouring South Sudan announced that the warring sides had agreed “in principle” to a seven-day ceasefire.

Deadly violence broke out on April 15 between Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who commands the regular army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). At least 550 people have been killed and 4,926 wounded, according to the latest health ministry figures Wednesday, which are likely to be incomplete.

Tens of thousands of Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries in an exodus that has sparked warnings of a humanitarian “catastrophe” with implications for the entire region. On Wednesday, Griffiths arrived in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast on an urgent mission to find ways to bring relief to the millions of Sudanese who are unable to flee.

“Just arrived in Port Sudan to reaffirm the UN’s commitment to the Sudanese people,” he said on Twitter. Earlier, the foreign ministry of neighbouring