• UN worried fighting may spill over into neighbouring countries
• Refugee agency estimates 0.8m people may cross country’s borders soon

KHARTOUM: Gun battles and explosions again rocked Sudan’s capital Monday despite the latest truce agreed between warring generals, even as the United Nations worries the fighting could spill over into neighbouring countries.

More than 500 people have been reported killed since fighting erupted on April 15.

But a growing number of Sudanese nationals say they are now stranded because Western embassy workers fled the country without returning their passports, CNN reported.

According to the US network, diplomats from at least three Western missions have been unable to return travel documents to Sudanese nationals, leaving them without their travel documents and in legal limbo.

In some cases, embassy workers advised people to “apply for a new [Sudanese] passport” despite the fact that government services have grounded to a halt.

In one case, a Swedish official suggested that the Sudanese visa applicant use a photocopy of his passport in lieu of his travel document.

In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the Italian Foreign Ministry claimed that they would try to return the passports “as soon as possible”.

Sweden’s foreign ministry said it “cannot comment in detail on the security measures that the Embassy has taken ahead of the relocation as this would defeat the point of those measures.”

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told CNN the organisation does not issue emergency travel documents to Sudanese citizens trying to leave the country.

Exodus of 0.8m people

Now, the UN refugee agency says it is preparing for the possibility that nearly a million people may flee to neighbouring countries, while the Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths arrived in Nairobi on an urgent mission to look for ways to bring relief to millions.

“The humanitarian situation is reaching breaking point,” he said on Twitter, later calling it “catastrophic”.

“UNHCR, with governments and partners, is preparing for the possibility that over 800,000 people may flee the fighting in Sudan for neighbouring countries,” the agency’s chief Filippo Grandi said in a tweet.

“We hope it doesn’t come to that, but if violence doesn’t stop we will see more people forced to flee Sudan seeking safety.” Such planning figures do not mean the UN necessarily expects this number of people to flee, but that it believes it is possible and is laying plans to meet the massive needs that could arise.

Separately, UN Resi­dent and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Abdou Dieng told a briefing of member states: “It has been more than two weeks of devastating fighting in Sudan, a conflict that is turning Sudan humanitarian crisis into a full blown catastrophe”.

Mr Dieng added that civilians were taking refuge in parts of Sudan less affected by fighting or fleeing to neighbouring countries. “The regional spillover effect of the crisis is a serious concern,” he said.

The UN World Food Programme has also said it expected to soon resume food distribution in some parts of the country after a suspension following the deaths of three of its aid workers.

Separately, the growing rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran after years of mistrust was visible on Monday as Saudi Arabia helped evacuate Iranian citizens fleeing the war in Sudan, Reuters reported.

The Saudi navy carried the 65 Iranian citizens from Port Sudan to Jeddah and they will fly onwards to Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani called the transfer “a positive event” that had taken place thanks to Saudi-Iranian cooperation.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2023