(CNN) The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned of a “huge biological hazard” after Sudanese militants seized the National Public Health Laboratory in the capital Khartoum as foreign nations rushed to mount rapid evacuation efforts from the country and force a fragile US -Mediator pierced truce.
Gunshots and the roar of warplanes were heard by CNN journalists in Khartoum on Tuesday, half a day after announcing a 72-hour ceasefire that sparked hopes of opening escape routes for desperately fleeing civilians. Heavy clashes broke out in the northern part of Khartoum state between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group fighting the army for control of the country, eyewitnesses told CNN.
The two warring parties accused each other of violating the agreement.
A senior medical source told CNN that the lab, which contains disease samples and other biological material, has been taken over by RSF forces. WHO blamed no blame for the lab’s seizure, but said medical technicians no longer had access to the facility.
Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO representative in Sudan, described the development as “extremely dangerous because we have polio isolates in the lab, we have measles isolates in the lab, we have cholera isolates in the lab.”
“There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health laboratory in Khartoum by one of the fighting parties,” he added.
The WHO said in a statement to CNN that “trained lab technicians no longer have access to the lab” and that the facility has suffered power outages, meaning “it is not possible to use the biological materials stored in the lab for medical purposes.” , to properly manage purposes.”
The power outages also mean there is a risk of spoilage for the dwindling stocks of blood bags, according to the lab’s director general.
The medical source told CNN that “the danger lies in the outbreak of an armed confrontation in the lab because it will turn the lab into a germ bomb.”
“Urgent and swift international intervention is required to restore power and protect the lab from any armed confrontation as we face a real biological threat,” the source added.
CNN has reached out to the RSF for comment.
Countries are racing to get the citizens out
The United Kingdom, France, South Korea and a host of other countries confirmed Tuesday they are withdrawing nationals after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a three-day ceasefire had been agreed.
The White House, meanwhile, is considering a plan to send US troops to Port Sudan to help evacuate American citizens, a US official with knowledge of the operations told CNN on Monday.
Three US warships are also deployed off the coast of Sudan. A Navy official told CNN that the US is sending the USNS Brunswick to Sudan, a day after the Pentagon said the USS Truxton was already off the country’s coast and the USS Lewis B. Puller was underway.
The CNN team in Djibouti received images released by the US military showing personnel arriving in that country. France and Pakistan both said they had evacuated hundreds of nationals, while China said most of its citizens had also been pulled out of the country.
US government personnel arrive in Djibouti after being evacuated from Sudan.
Up to 500 people fleeing the fighting began boarding the French frigate Lorraine in Port-Sudan on Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for France’s chief of staff told CNN.
Previous ceasefires have collapsed within hours of their conclusion since clashes first erupted in Sudan in mid-April. But the latest agreement, which Blinken said followed two days of “intense negotiations,” has sparked hopes it would open a window for foreign nations to get citizens and staff to safety. According to the Sudanese armed forces, Saudi Arabia was also involved in brokering the ceasefire.
On Tuesday, both parties to the conflict accused each other of breaking the ceasefire. The armed forces said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had moved military convoys to the capital to conduct a large-scale military operation, stationed snipers in parts of Khartoum and conducted operations near embassies. The army did not provide any evidence to support the claims.
The RSF accused the army of violating the ceasefire by “continuing to attack Khartoum with planes”. Eyewitnesses told CNN that fighter jets could be heard over Omdurman, north of the capital.
Dwindling supplies in the capital
As the conflict rages on in its second week, water supplies are running low and food is “running out” in Khartoum state, a witness told CNN on Tuesday.
“Stores are completely running out of groceries” and several food factories in the state have been ransacked, the witness, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, told CNN.
“As for the water supply, we don’t have continuous water for the eleventh day. We only get water from a well nearby. So you have to walk further to the well with barrels or something if you have a car or something. If not, you need to take something small to get enough water for you,” the witness said.
Saif Mohamed Othman, 51, a freelancer who lives in Shambat, north Bahri, told CNN on Tuesday that stores were running out of food supplies, made worse by the complete burning down of the central market, which covers large parts of Bahri Bahri supplied with vegetables and meat and other groceries.
Residents are also struggling financially because state employees haven’t received their wages since the Eid al-Fitr holiday late last week and the bank’s ATMs aren’t working, Othman told CNN.
Othman told CNN patrols were in place to protect the neighborhood from the widespread looting and robberies that large areas of Khartoum have faced due to a lack of security and police presence.
On Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) warned that shortages of food, water, medicines and fuel in and around Khartoum were becoming “extremely acute”.
“Access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, has been critically affected by the conflict,” UNOCHA added. “Displacements of civilians and cross-border movements to surrounding countries continue to be reported from the states of Khartoum, Northern, Blue Nile, North Kordofan, North Darfur, West Darfur and South Darfur.”
People fled Khartoum by bus on Tuesday.
Many Sudanese trapped in the midst of fighting have attempted to make their own perilous escape from the capital, using brief pauses in fighting to escape.
Sudan has been wracked by violence since a bloody power struggle between two rival generals spilled into the streets, with troops loyal to each man fighting on the streets of Khartoum and in the towns around the capital.
During the fighting, the RSF and the Sudanese military have issued statements discrediting each other, with unsubstantiated claims that they control key posts in the capital and allegations by both sides against civilians.
On Monday, the Sudanese military claimed the RSF killed an Egyptian diplomat, while the RSF claimed the army targeted civilians in an airstrike on a neighborhood of Khartoum. Neither group provided evidence to support the claims.
CNN’s Sam Kiley, Jennifer Hansler, Donald Judd, Pierre Bairin and Aurore Laborie contributed coverage