Red Cross says Sudan's safe heaven Wad Madani turned into 'death trap'

GENEVA

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazeera state in Sudan, as once the safe haven turned into a "death trap," the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.

Sudan has been mired by fighting between the army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the country’s ruling Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April.

Several cease-fire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators have failed to end the violence.

Fighters from the RSF battling the army for eight months have now advanced into the city of Wad Madani, a city packed with thousands of displaced people and serving as an aid hub.

The ICRC "is urgently calling on the parties to the conflict to ensure protection of all civilians and provide safe passage for people trying to reach safety," the agency said in a statement.

"We fear that Wad Madani, once considered a safe haven for people fleeing extreme violence in Khartoum, is turning into another death trap," said Pierre Dorbes, the head of the ICRC delegation in Sudan.

"We saw desperate people running away in panic to the sound of explosions amid traffic jams and chaos," Dorbes said, stressing that during each displacement family members get separated, and vulnerable people are left behind.