The death toll in the fighting in Sudan between the military loyal to junta leader Gen. army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has risen to 413, with 3,551 injured as the supremacy clashes enter their sixth day on Friday, according to figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO, in a report released on Friday by its spokesperson, Margaret Harris said, so far, there had been 11 attacks on health facilities in the capital, Khartoum, making its workers unable to deliver needed medical supplies.
The WHO has previously called for both sides of the conflict to open a humanitarian passage for health workers, patients and ambulances so as to ease access to the civilian populace who have been caught in the cross fire, as food and water shortages grow.
Also commenting on the situation, spokesman for the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), James Elder, while speaking with journalists in Zurich, said at least nine children had been reported killed in the fighting and that more than 50 had been injured.
“Sudan already has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children in the world,” he said.
“And now, critical life-saving care for an estimated 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children has been disrupted. This is life threatening,” Elder added.
Meanwhile, the RSF, early on Friday, declared a 72-hour ceasefire in what it said was in the spirit of the Eid-al-Fitr celebration.
“The truce coincides with the blessed Eid al-Fitr … to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens and give them the opportunity to greet their families,” the force said in a statement.
However, before the Friday declaration, two other 24-hour ceasefires had been breached.
The United Nations had on Thursday appealed to both the Sudanese Army and the RSF to strike a deal, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a three-day ceasefire to allow trapped civilians to flee.
“As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies,” Guterres had told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.