KHARTUM, 24 Apr. A Russian citizen and her daughter, who were locked in a church in Khartoum due to fighting between the army and the Rapid Reaction Forces (RRF), have been evacuated, the Russian embassy said.
«In the course of the efforts undertaken by the Russian Embassy in Sudan with the assistance of the warring parties, a Russian citizen with a child was evacuated, blocked in one of the Khartoum churches since the beginning of the armed conflict. At the moment they are in the Russian diplomatic mission, they are alive and well,» the embassy said in a statement. .
Last Monday, the Bishop of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Metropolitan Savva of Nubia and All Sudan told the Greek public television ERT that 15 people, including a Russian woman with a child, were blocked in the building of the Metropolis in Khartoum, they could not leave because of the shelling.
Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Sudan Andrei Chernovol said in an interview that «almost all Russians who were in the war zone in Khartoum were evacuated to the Russian embassy in Sudan.» According to him, the diplomats «keep in touch with those who are in relatively safe places away from the lines of contact.» He also noted that 140 people confirmed their desire to evacuate from Sudan to the Russian Embassy.
Fighting has been going on in Sudan since April 15 between the Rapid Reaction Forces (RRF) under the command of Mohammed Hamdan Daglo and the regular army. The opposing forces in Sudan are exchanging conflicting statements about military successes and control of facilities, launching a large-scale information war in the media and social networks.
According to the Minister of Health of Sudan, the death toll from clashes in the country has risen to 600. The representative of the World Health Organization Margaret Harris at the weekly UN briefing in Geneva on April 21 said that 413 people were killed and 3551 were injured. According to the Sudanese doctors' union, 256 civilians have been killed and 1,454 injured since the clashes began.