The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday of “elevated” biological risks in Sudan after the occupation of a national health laboratory.
This “public health laboratory is occupied by one of the sides in the fight and poses a very high biological risk,” said the WHO representative in Sudan, Dr. Nima Saeed Abid, at a press conference held in Geneva by videoconference. Ella abid added that samples with pathogens of measles, cholera and polio could be found at the facility.
“There is no access for laboratory technicians, so that they can safely contain the material and substances available”; said this doctor, refusing to specify which army has occupied the facilities, although several reports suggest that RSF paramilitaries control it.
On the other hand, this Tuesday the Sudanese took advantage of the new truce, announced as of 22:00 GMT yesterday, with the mediation of the United States, to stock up on water and food or flee to safer areas or neighboring countries of Sudan, in the middle of of enormous difficulties due to the closure of banks and shops or the rise in prices.
According to local media and witnesses, a tense calm prevails in Khartoum and the neighboring city of Um Dorman, without registering major violations of the new truce as happened in other pauses announced since the outbreak of clashes on the 15th between the Army and the paramilitary group of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR).
Hundreds of Sudanese continue to travel to the Khartoum bus station to try to move to safer areas or to neighboring countries such as Egypt (north), on a trip that can last up to two days, and where a ticket already costs up to ten times more than what normal. The situation is complicated by the high cost of tickets and the scarcity of means of transport due to the lack of gasoline, according to the same sources.
Thousands of inhabitants of the capital took to the streets in an attempt to supply themselves with water and food, amid many difficulties due to the closure of stores and the lack of cash liquidity due to the closure of banks since the start of the clashes. .
Meanwhile, Sudan’s independent Central Medical Committee today put civilian deaths at 291, considerably lower than the figure given by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which puts more than 459 deaths and 4,079 deaths. wounded.
“Many wounded and dead are not included in this count (…) many have not been able to reach hospitals due to the difficulty of movement and insecurity in the country,” the aforementioned committee said in a brief statement.
Helicopters and fighters of the Sudanese Army flew over several suburbs of Khartoum and Um Dorman this morning, where according to witnesses, sounds of explosions or gunfire are heard from time to time, although no casualties or fighting were reported.
The UNHCR itself anticipated today that the conflict in Sudan could cause at least 145,000 refugees in the neighboring countries of Chad and South Sudan. At the press conference of various humanitarian agencies coordinated from Geneva, the UNHCR representative in Chad, Lorena lo Castro, indicated that the agency is preparing to receive up to 100,000 refugees in that country (some 20,000 have been counted so far).
His colleague in South Sudan, Marie-Hélène Verney, indicated that 45,000 refugees from Sudan are expected in that territory.
To these figures should be added the Sudanese who have fled to neighboring Egypt. There are still no exact figures on the number of refugees that have already arrived in that country.
Added to this exodus is that of South Sudanese who were refugees in Sudan and return to their country due to the escalation of hostilities that began on April 15: according to the UNHCR representative in the country, some 4,000 of these returnees have already arrived in Sudan.
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