A humanitarian catastrophe threatens Sudan.. food shortages, internet cuts, the start of waves of refugees, and countries evacuating their nationals “immediately.”

While the fighting continues between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in separate parts of the country, international organizations sounded the alarm about the beginning of a humanitarian catastrophe, in light of the targeting of civilian areas and the lack of basic materials, and expectations of a large wave of refugees to neighboring countries, while the countries of the world continue to evacuate their nationals from Sudan. According to reports, Saturday, April 22, 2023.

According to WHO estimates, the fighting that broke out early last week between the Sudanese army forces led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, resulted in more than 400 deaths and injuries. About 3551 others.

Millions of civilians are trapped

The International Red Cross has warned of the depletion of water and food among Sudanese civilians trapped in their homes, as a result of the clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.

The organization added in a statement that “the conflict could quickly degenerate into a real, permanent war,” involving the troubled states in Sudan and then some neighboring countries.

The statement also stated: “The suffering was exacerbated by the fact that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was unable to deliver aid to the people who needed it most, as the two parties did not provide us with the necessary security guarantees.”

While the Sudanese Red Crescent Society said that its stores were robbed by armed individuals (whose identity it did not specify), and added that the armed men looted 8 SUVs and a truck belonging to the society.

The Society condemned the attack on its facilities, and warned against using its cars for commercial or criminal purposes, noting that the risks resulting from the misuse of the Red Crescent emblem will exacerbate the humanitarian situation.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also estimated that about 16 million Sudanese are in need of aid this year.

Refugee waves from Sudan

For his part, the director of the United Nations World Food Program in Chad said that the program expects more refugees from Sudan to arrive across the border, fleeing the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 Sudanese have already crossed the border into Chad, a week after fighting began in the capital, Khartoum, and other parts of the country, Reuters reported Saturday.

“We expect more waves, that’s for sure,” said Pierre Onoura, program manager in Chad. Immediately, when the security situation allows them to come. There are big towns near the border, and those in them couldn’t move.”

While Onura said that 400 thousand Sudanese refugees fled during previous conflicts are spread in 14 camps in the border region in Chad. Residents of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, cannot leave their homes because of the bombing and as soldiers roam the streets.

Thousands of foreigners are also trapped by the fighting in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan, including embassy staff, aid workers and students. Sudan’s army said on Saturday it would help evacuate foreign nationals after a week of conflict killed hundreds of civilians.

While Onura said, “The World Food Program will prepare to receive at least 100,000. There will likely be more, so we have to be prepared.” He added that most of those who arrived in the past few days were women and children from villages on the border.

He added, “The number of children is amazing. We were surprised to see so many children crossing the border. It broke our hearts to see the women and children under the trees. Some of them suffered violence, their homes burned, their villages destroyed and their neighborhoods completely looted.”

Internet services stopped

On the other hand, a monitoring website for the World Wide Web reported, on Sunday, April 23, that Sudan is witnessing an “almost complete” outage of Internet service, with the battles between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces entering its second week.

The London-based NetBlocks organization, which is concerned with monitoring access to the Internet in the world, said, “Network data at the present time shows an almost complete collapse of Internet connectivity in Sudan, as the national connection rate is currently 2% compared to normal levels.”

Countries around the world evacuate their nationals from Sudan

With the escalation of clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, countries continue to evacuate their citizens from Sudan. After Saudi Arabia and America, which were the first to remove their citizens from the country, France began the operation on Sunday, and other countries, including Turkey and Lebanon, announced their intention to expedite this.

Dozens of Saudis and nationals of other countries arrived by sea in the city of Jeddah, in the first announced evacuation of civilians from Sudan since the outbreak of battles between the army and the Rapid Support Forces a week ago, according to the Saudi official media, Saturday.

Al-Ikhbariya channel also reported news about “the arrival of the first evacuation ship from Sudan, which includes 50 citizens and a number of nationals of sister countries.” And she explained that four other ships “coming from Sudan to Jeddah, with 108 people from 11 countries on board,” without additional details.

The operation carried out by Saudi Arabia is the first announced evacuation of civilians from Sudan since the outbreak of the clashes, noting that the Sudanese army announced on the 20th of this month the evacuation of 177 Egyptian soldiers who were present in the northern city of Meroe.

In turn, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, on Sunday, that the country is carrying out the process of evacuating its diplomats and citizens from Sudan, and the French Foreign Ministry pointed out that the process will also include European citizens, and others from “allied partner countries,” without providing additional details.

The Turkish embassy in Khartoum also announced that it will evacuate its citizens who wish to leave Sudan on Sunday, due to the military clashes in the country. The embassy said in a statement, on Saturday, that it will evacuate its citizens on Sunday by land to a third country, in preparation for their return to Turkey.