Sudan: Three UN aid workers among 97 killed as crisis talks under way

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2 years ago

April 17, 2023

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Crisis mediation is under way to de-escalate the armed violence in Sudan after at least 97 people were killed and 365 injured.

Violence broke out on Saturday in the capital Khartoum and across the country as armed forces and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) clashed.

Three UN World Food Programme (WFP) workers were among those killed in clashes in Darfur.

Two more employees were injured while carrying out duties and a humanitarian aircraft was damaged, “seriously impacting” WFP’s work, a spokesperson said.

The programme has paused while security is reviewed as the spokesperson said there was “no excuse for targeting humanitarian workers”.

Tensions had been escalating between army head and de facto president Abdel Fattah al Burhan and RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed have had phone calls with both leaders in an attempt to calm the violence.

Egypt and South Sudan have offered to mediate between the army and paramilitary.

Kenyan President William Ruto and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have also had phone calls with General al Burhan.

Why has violence erupted in Sudan?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has consulted with Saudi Arabian and Emirati counterparts and shared their agreement that it is “essential for all parties to immediately end hostilities”.

The two groups continued their battle for control on Sunday, signalling they were unwilling to end hostilities despite mounting diplomatic pressure.

Heavy fighting involving armoured vehicles, truck-mounted machine guns and war planes raged on Sunday in the capital of Khartoum, its sister city of Omdurman and in flashpoints across the country.

Sudan waits to see how high the price of peace will be

There are no heroes in this story.

Both the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been responsible for committing atrocities against civilians. Hundreds have been killed since the 2019 revolution and many more injured.

Now, the power pact that brought the two sides together to consolidate state power in the face of a pro-democracy movement has crumbled and Sudan’s citizens are once again caught in the crossfire.

Nowhere has this been felt more than in Darfur.

The RSF is made up of militias that terrorised civilians in the Darfur conflict that started in 2003 and is headed up by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

During the post-revolution period, Hemedti has been de-facto vice president to his current opponent commander-in-chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Since 2020, Hemedti’s troops have been officially charged with maintaining Darfur’s security. In this time, hundreds have been killed in communal clashes and border incursions with the Central African Republic.

At least 22 civilians have been killed in the southern Darfuri city of Nyala where the RSF has full control of the airport.

Darfur Monitors told Sky News from the ground that a majority of the casualties died of internal bleeding from stray artillery as the army and RSF fought for control.

Nyala’s main hospital currently has no electricity and little capacity to help the wounded. Fighting has started in a strategic point in the city where residents are most vulnerable and hundreds more could be killed.

The death toll from Khartoum is also steadily rising. The capital is a key battleground in the fight for symbolic power and is shaken by the explosive confrontations. Here, the army is also notorious for human rights abuses and ruling the country by default.

The streets of Khartoum have been home to mass protests calling for an end to military rule and transition to civilian authority – only to be dispersed with deadly gunfire and tear gas.

International mediation has come for all sides – the UN, UK, US, EU, African Union (AU) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) – to transition the country into democracy but drafted power-sharing framework agreements have been signed, although not sustained.

Now, the country waits to see which side will emerge victorious and how high the price of peace will be.

Fighting was reported around military headquarters, Khartoum International Airport and state television headquarters, prompting the channel to cut transmission.

A senior military official said RSF fighters clashed with troops at military headquarters early on Sunday and that a fire broke out at a facility for ground troops.

Former Sudanese prime minister Abdalla Hamdok said: “Peace remains the only feasible choice for the people of Sudan to avoid plunging the country into a civil war.

“We all witnessed the consequences of a civil war in many regions in Africa and in the Arab world. We must avoid that, and we can still avoid such a catastrophic situation. Therefore, I call for an immediate ceasefire and to reach an agreement, which leads to a permanent cessation (of hostilities).”

He also added other countries should not intervene in any negotiations.

Both sides signalled late on Saturday that they were unwilling to negotiate, but on Sunday a statement from the UN said General al Burhan and Hemedti agreed to a proposal for a three-hour pause in fighting (from 2pm to 5pm GMT), to allow the safe passage of humanitarian cases.

Despite the agreement, gunfire could be heard and plumes of smoke seen in the background of live broadcasts.

Hemedti previously told the satellite news network Al Arabiya that he ruled out negotiations and called on the army leader to surrender.

The military called for the RSF to be dismantled, labelling it a “rebellious militia”.

World

Famine declared in Gaza City – and projected to expand to two other areas in the next month

Published

5 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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Famine declared in Gaza City - and projected to expand to two other areas in the next month

A famine has been declared in Gaza City and the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition – has confirmed just four famines since it was established in 2004.

These were in Somalia in 2011, and in Sudan in 2017, 2020, and 2024.

The confirmation of famine in Gaza City is the IPC’s first outside of Africa.

“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the report said, adding that more than a million other people face a severe level of food insecurity.

Over the next month conditions are also expected to worsen, with the famine projected to expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, the report said.

Nearly a third of the population (641,000 people) are expected to face catastrophic conditions while acute malnutrition is projected to continue getting worse rapidly.

Over the next year, the report said at least 132,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition – double the organisation’s estimates from May 2024.

Israel says no famine in Gaza

Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights chief, said the famine is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government.

“It is a war crime to use starvation as method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing,” he said.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, has rejected the findings.

Israel accused of allowing famine to fester in Gaza

Tom Fletcher, speaking on behalf of the United Nations, did not mince his words.

Gaza was suffering from famine, the evidence was irrefutable and Israel had not just obstructed aid but had also used hunger as a weapon of war.

His anger seeped through every sentence, just as desperation is laced through the report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Conditions are expected to worsen, it says, even though the Gaza Strip has been classified as a level 5 famine. There is no level 6.

But it took only moments for the Israeli government to respond in terms that were just as strident.

Read Adam Parsons’ analysis here.

Israel’s foreign ministry said there is no famine in Gaza: “Over 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the start of the war, and in recent weeks a massive influx of aid has flooded the Strip with staple foods and caused a sharp decline in food prices, which have plummeted in the markets.”

Another UN chief made a desperate plea to Israel’s prime minister to declare a ceasefire in the wake of the famine announcement.

Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said famine could have been prevented in the strip if there hadn’t been a “systematic obstruction” of aid deliveries.

“My ask, my plea, my demand to Prime Minister Netanyahu and anyone who can reach him. Enough. Ceasefire. Open the crossings, north and south, all of them,” he said.

The IPC had previously warned famine was imminent in parts of Gaza, but had stopped short of a formal declaration.

The latest report on Gaza from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there were almost 13,000 new admissions of children for acute malnutrition recorded in July.

The latest numbers from the Gaza health ministry are 251 dead as a result of famine and malnutrition, including 108 children.

But Israel has previously accused Hamas of inflating these figures, saying that most of the children who died had pre-existing health conditions.

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Suspect arrested over Nord Stream attacks served in Ukraine’s army, Sky News understands

Published

5 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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Suspect arrested over Nord Stream attacks served in Ukraine's army, Sky News understands

The Ukrainian suspected of coordinating attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines had served in Ukraine’s Secret Service and in the Ukrainian Army’s special forces, Sky News understand.

Serhii K., 49, was arrested in northern Italy on Thursday following the issuance of a European arrest warrant by German prosecutors.

It is not known whether he was still serving at the time of the pipeline attack in 2022 and Ukraine’s government has always denied any involvement in the explosions.

According to sources close to the case, the suspect has been found in a three-star bungalow hotel named La Pescaccia in San Clemente, in the province of Rimini.

When military officers from Italy’s Carabinieri investigative and operational units raided his bedroom, he didn’t try to resist the arrest.

The hotel’s employees have been questioned, but no further evidence or any weapons were found, the sources added.

Serhii arrived on Italy’s Adriatic coast earlier this week, and the purpose of his trip was a holiday. He was found with his two children and his wife.

At least one of the four people within his family had a travel ticket issued in Poland. He crossed the Italian border with his car with a Ukrainian license plate last Tuesday.

He was travelling with his passport, and he used his real identity to check into the hotel, triggering an emergency alert on a police server, we have been told.

After the arrest, he was taken to the Rimini police station before being moved to a prison in Bologna, the regional capital, on Friday.

Deputy Bologna Prosecutor Licia Scagliarini has granted the German judicial authorities’ requests for Serhii’s surrender, but Sky News understands the man told the appeal court that he doesn’t consent to being handed over to Germany.

He also denied the charges and said he was in Ukraine during the Nord Stream sabotage. He added that he is currently in Italy for family reasons.

While leaving the court, he was seen making a typical Ukrainian nationalist ‘trident’ gesture to the reporters.

The next hearing is scheduled for 3 September, when the Bologna appeal court is set to decide whether Serhii will be extradited to Germany or not. He will remain in jail until then.

In Germany, he will face charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures.

German prosecutors believe he was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.

Serhii and his accomplices are believed to have set off from Rostock on Germany’s north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack.

The explosions severely damaged three pipelines transporting gas from Russia to Europe. It represented a significant escalation in the Ukraine conflict and worsening of the continent’s energy supply crisis.

According to a US intelligence report leaked in 2023, a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack. Yet, no group has ever claimed responsibility.

Sky News understands Genoa’s Prosecutor’s Office in northern Italy has requested their colleagues in Bologna to share the information related to Serhii.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating another alleged sabotage linked to the Russian shadow fleet oil tanker Seajewel, which sank off the port of Savona last February.

On Thursday, they asked an investigative police unit to figure out whether there is a link between that episode and the Nord Stream attacks.