UN Secretary-General calls on warring parties in Sudan to ceasefire for 3 days

Speaking to reporters after an online conference with the heads of the African Union (AU), the Arab League (AL), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and other relevant organizations, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 20 called on the warring parties in Sudan to hold a three-day ceasefire to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr and “allow civilians trapped in conflict areas to evacuate, as well as seek medical services, food and other essential goods.”

Earlier the same day, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that about 10,000 - 20,000 Sudanese people have tried to evacuate to neighboring Chad to avoid fighting in the Darfur region in recent days. According to UNHCR, this is an "alarming" number.

In Africa, the UNHCR statement confirmed that the majority of Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad are women and children. The statement said: “The most immediate and urgent needs are for drinking water, food, shelter, health care, child protection and prevention of gender-based violence. Given the violence that those who have crossed the border have witnessed, psychosocial support is also a top priority.”

Eastern Chad, which borders Darfur, has already hosted 400,000 refugees from Sudan, and the new arrivals are putting further strain on the neighboring country's already overstretched public services and resources, according to UNHCR.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that violence between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left about 300 people dead and more than 3,000 others injured.

* In a related development, an anonymous US official confirmed on April 20 that the Pentagon is preparing to send a large number of troops to its military base in Djibouti in case it has to carry out a final evacuation from Sudan, as rival factions continue to fight in the capital Khartoum.

“We will deploy additional forces in the nearby areas for precautionary purposes related to the mission of ensuring safety and to potentially facilitate the evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel in Sudan,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Earlier, speaking on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Japan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on April 18 that a US diplomatic convoy in Sudan was hit by gunfire in an attack by gunmen linked to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 17, and condemned the incident. He stressed that Washington is deeply concerned about the overall security environment in Sudan because this situation not only negatively impacts civilians but also diplomats and aid workers.

According to VNA