Sudan fighting: Foreign nationals to be evacuated - army

Diplomats and nationals from the UK, US, France and China are to be evacuated from Sudan by air as fighting there continues, a statement from the Sudanese army says, reports BBC.

Army chief Fattah al-Burhan agreed to facilitate and secure their evacuation "in the coming hours", it said.

He is locked in a bitter power struggle with the leader of a rival paramilitary faction, the Rapid Support Forces.

Hundreds of people have been killed in a week of fighting across the country.

Previous plans to evacuate foreign nationals have not been implemented because of safety fears.

A statement from the army said British, US, French and Chinese nationals and diplomats would be evacuated by air on board military transport planes from the capital, Khartoum.

Saudi Arabia has also announced it is arranging the evacuation of its citizens and nationals of "brotherly" countries.

The Sudanese army said Saudi Arabia's diplomatic mission had already been evacuated by land to Port Sudan and from there by air to Saudi Arabia. Jordan's diplomatic mission will be next to be secured, it added.

Khartoum's international airport has been closed due to the violence, with foreign embassies - including the UK and US - unable to bring their citizens home.

The conflict has entered its second week despite both sides - the army and the RSF - agreeing to a three-day ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, starting from Friday.

Sporadic gunfire and air strikes were heard in the capital on Saturday despite the truce.

A former foreign minister, Mariam al-Mahdi, who is sheltering in Khartoum told the  news agency the ceasefire was "not taking at all".

"We are out of electricity for the last 24 hours. We are out of water for the last six days," she said.

Medical teams are being targeted in the fighting, she said, adding: "There are rotting bodies of our youth in the streets."