RSF soldiers celebrate after fighting in Sudanpublished at 18:56 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Street battles have been fought by Sudan's rival forces in the capital, despite calls for a ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday.
Read MoreRSF soldiers celebrate after fighting in Sudanpublished at 18:56 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Street battles dash hopes of Sudan Eid ceasefirepublished at 18:23 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Continued fighting means it is too dangerous to go to Eid prayers despite calls for a ceasefire.
Read MoreStudents' Eid meal scuppered by Sudan gun battlepublished at 18:21 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
It has been a sombre Eid for Ugandan students at the International University of Africa (IUA) in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
"Today we managed to go for prayers in the morning but immediately we finished our prayers gunfire broke out between the two fighting parties," one of the students told the BBC’s Focus on Africa radio programme.
This meant the Ugandan students were not able to have an after-prayer Eid meal as they had done in previous years to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
He said the university was surrounded by paramilitary fighters, which means the campus is in the firing line when they are attacked by the military.
Pharmacies, hospitals and markets around the university are closed.
"Everyone is in their rooms, we can’t go out - we can’t do anything."
They were lucky enough to still be getting a meal provided by the university, so they had some food, he said.
"We’re just praying our governments do what is needed to make sure we safely leave this place - and maybe come back when the situation stabilises."
Sudan army tweets agreement to three-day Eid trucepublished at 17:56 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Sudan's military has tweeted a statement saying it has agreed to a three-day truce to enable people to celebrate Eid.
It comes after a day of heavy fighting in the capital, Khartoum, with people unable to go to Eid prayers earlier in the morning.
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End of twitter post"The armed forces hope that the rebels will abide by all the requirements of the truce and stop any military moves that would obstruct it," the statement says.
Several previous agreements for 24-hour humanitarian ceasefires have been flouted this week.
Earlier on Friday the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it had agreed to an Eid ceasefire.
DR Congo ceasefire: People urged to return to homespublished at 17:42 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Grant Ferrett
BBC World Service
Image source, AFPImage caption, Kenyan army Colonel Denis Obiero wants people in North Kivu to have faith in the ceasefire
A leading soldier in the East African military force in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has urged displaced people to return home, despite recent clashes.
The head of the Kenyan contingent, Col Denis Obiero, told residents of Kibumba that they should encourage those who had fled to come back.
Hundreds of thousands have left their homes in North Kivu province since M23 rebels began an offensive last year.
The rebel group withdrew from Kibumba four months ago, but some local people say they remain in surrounding areas
Earlier this month, the group said it would not disarm unless the Congolese government held direct talks.
European Union mulling Sudan evacuation planpublished at 17:21 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Elettra Neysmith
BBC World Service NewsThe European Union says it is planning for a possible evacuation of its citizens from Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
A senior official said an operation was being co-ordinated, with different possibilities being worked on for getting people out.
An estimated 1,500 EU nationals are trapped in the Sudanese capital.
Seven EU member states have missions in Sudan.
German Foreign Minister Anna Baerbock said the first priority was a ceasefire so people could be pulled out.
The United States says it is not yet made a decision on whether to evacuate diplomatic personnel. The White House said other US citizens should make their own arrangements to stay safe.
Image source, AFPImage caption, Earlier on Friday in southern Khartoum, people were pictured fleeing the battles on the back of a lorry
Comoros 'warns French island over migrant expulsions'published at 16:42 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Image source, AFPImage caption, Police in Mayotte are being mobilised to crack down on illegal migration
The Comoros will not accept migrants expelled from the neighbouring French island of Mayotte, a government spokesperson has told the AFP news agency.
The authorities in Mayotte are expected to start next week deporting illegal migrants who have settled on the Indian Ocean island.
"The Comoros do not intend to welcome people expelled as part of the operation planned by the French government in Mayotte," government spokesman Houmed Msaidie told AFP.
More on this topic:
Sudan UN staffer killed in crossfirepublished at 16:07 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
An employee of the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been killed in crossfire south of the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state.
IOM Director General António Vitorino said in a statement:
Quote MessageIt is with a heavy heart that I confirm the death of a dedicated IOM Sudan staff member this morning after the vehicle he was travelling in with his family south of El Obeid was caught in a crossfire between two warring parties.
Quote MessageI am deeply saddened by the death of our humanitarian colleague, and join his wife and new-born child, and our team in Sudan in mourning.
Quote MessageThe senseless deaths of civilians including humanitarians, which claimed the lives of three WFP employees in North Darfur on Saturday, must end and peace be restored."
According to the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 400 people, many of them civilians, have now died in the violence between rival military factions as the clashes continue for a seventh day.
The wrestler who 'fell in love' with actingpublished at 15:43 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Sierra Leone's Madusu Koroma narrowly missed out on a Commonwealth Games medal but has plenty of other strings to her all-action bow.
Read MoreHeavy skirmishes in residential areas of Khartoumpublished at 15:28 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
BBC Newshour
BBC World Service
Image source, Getty ImagesGunfire and explosions in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, have spread to the west and the south of the city as fighting between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalates.
The army says it has deployed thousands of soldiers, carrying out operations on foot for the first time since fighting broke out almost a week ago.
"We had a lot of sort of heavy gunfire in this area. It's possible that some of the paramilitary forces were being chased by the Sudan armed forces into the neighbourhood from the main road which they had been occupying,” Kholood Khair, a political analyst who lives in Khartoum, told the BBC's Newshour programme.
“This shows you to what extent ordinary citizens are being caught in the crossfire and are collateral in something like this - that these skirmishes which I imagine will become more frequent will have a lot of people indoors and afraid."
She said people were working together to get basic supplies but many were in a desperate situation.
"Everyone's helping... each other out, of course. We're seeing this on a much grander scale across the city. There have been sort of grocery runs, bread runs - but very carefully timed and not of course without risk.
“There are people around the city, and around the country which we're hearing are in a much more desperate situation where there is no access, or they can't leave the premises at any time of day… [or] they may not have the money."
Read more: The unsung heroes keeping Khartoum residents alive
Ten members of same family killed in S Africa shootingpublished at 15:21 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Police said gunmen ambushed the family at their home on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg.
Read MoreEid celebrations: Henna, selfies and sunglassespublished at 14:42 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Calls to Eid prayer from mosques in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, were competing with gunfire this morning.
But Muslims in other countries on the continent have made it to the prayers, many dressed up to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan - like these children in Kara Isheri in south-west Nigeria:
Image source, AFPIn Ilorin, in western Nigeria, horsemen prepared to parade in the Durbar festival as part of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations:
Image source, AFPBalloons are on sale for the holiday in Nigeria's capital, Abuja:
Image source, Getty ImagesThey can also be seen at this mosque in Tunisia's capital, where people take selfies after the prayers:
Image source, Getty ImagesA beautiful array of tailored colours are on display for street prayers in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé:
Image source, Getty ImagesSmartly dressed Muslims with their prayer mats arrive at a stadium in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, to perform the prayer:
Image source, Getty ImagesIn Mozambique, a country trying to recover from a jihadist insurgency in the north, President Filipe Nyusi was in central port city of Quelimane to greet Muslims celebrating Eid - and to praise the fraternal values cultivated by Ramadan:
Image source, Mozambique presidencyAnd a woman at a prayer ground in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, shows off her decorated hands - specially hennaed for the Muslim festival:
Image source, ReutersAsylum seekers evicted from outside UN office in SApublished at 14:00 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Grant Ferrett
BBC World Service
Image source, AFPSouth African police have been evicting a group of asylum seekers who were camped outside the regional headquarters of the UN refugee agency in Pretoria for the past year.
Image source, AFPThe local authorities say the makeshift shelters have no water, electricity or sanitation and pose a health hazard.
Image source, AFPThe migrants - many of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo - have repeatedly refused to be moved to the Lindela deportation centre for undocumented migrants, which they say is unsafe.
They have demanded safe passage to a third country.
Image source, AFPRivals reducing Sudan to ‘rubble and ash’ - German FMpublished at 13:32 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her government was working “night and day” to evacuate its citizens from Sudan and appealed to both sides to end the fighting:
Quote MessageOur call on the two generals in charge is clear - cease fire, stop this senseless violence immediately, allow the local people to get to safety, allow the population to receive much-needed humanitarian aid, and end the conflict between you through negotiation, instead of reducing Sudan to rubble and ash."
During a news conference in Berlin with her Spanish counterpart, she said people caught up in the fighting were struggling to survive and risked death if they left the buildings they were sheltering in:
Quote MessageFor almost a week, the people of Sudan have been trapped to some extent exactly where they were when fighting first broke out last Saturday, because every step outside means mortal danger.
Quote MessageThe physical stress, the psychological stress in particular, is already extremely high. Added to that is the fact that the fighting is apparently continuing today, gunfire, explosions can be heard everywhere and sometimes there is the smell of rotting corpses in the air."
Sudan hospital in Darfur overwhelmed with woundedpublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Image source, MSFImage caption, The medical team at South Hospital are overwhelmed and have been working round the clock
The only functioning hospital in Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, is overwhelmed with patients injured during heavy fighting between rival military factions, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says.
The medical charity’s Cyrus Paye said his team in Fasher had repurposed a maternity hospital to receive the wounded as all other hospitals in the city had had to close because of their proximity to the fighting, or the inability of staff to reach them.
The maternity South Hospital has received 279 wounded patients since the clashes began on Saturday.
Quote MessageTragically, 44 have died. The situation is catastrophic. The majority of the wounded are civilians who were hit by stray bullets, and many of them are children.
Quote MessageMany need blood transfusions. There are so many patients that they are being treated on the floor in the corridors because there simply aren’t enough beds to accommodate the vast number of wounded."
MSF's Cyrus Paye
Image source, MSFImage caption, Cyrus Paye gave his account over the phone to MSF colleagues, saying he could hear gunfire from their compound
The hospital was rapidly running out of supplies - as airports were closed as was with the border with Chad, which neighbours Darfur, the MSF project co-ordinator explained.
Quote MessageIf the situation doesn’t change and humanitarian access is not granted, there will be even greater loss of life.”
Ten family members killed in SA mass shootingpublished at 12:08 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Image source, South Africa Police Service/TwittterImage caption, Police Minister Bheki Cele (left) and top police commanders are visiting the crime scene
Gunmen in South Africa have shot dead ten members of the same family during an attack outside the city of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province.
Police were called to the house in the township of Imbali by neighbours who heard shooting in the early hours of the morning during a power cut.
It is unclear what was the motive of the murder.
Officers said gunmen had entered the house killing seven women and three men inside.
Police Minister Bheki Cele and the top management from the South African police force are visiting the crime scene, local media say.
Mr Cele recently admitted that the country had a serious problem with gun violence.
This is the second mass shooting in KwaZulu-Natal this week after four other people were shot and killed on Thursday in a home in KwaMashu, north of the port city of Durban.
Death toll rises to 413 in Sudan fightingpublished at 11:22 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
The number of people who have died in fighting between rival military forces in Sudan has climbed to 413, the UN's World Health Organization has said.
Those injured now stands at 3,551 as clashes continue for a seventh day.
Sudan soldiers deployed 'to comb Khartoum's streets'published at 10:48 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
Image source, @4hmdxImage caption, Khartoum resident Ahmed Mamoun tooks photos of soldiers patrolling streets in the capital on Friday
Sudan's army has said it will continue operations against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RFS) in the capital, Khartoum, despite a 72-hour ceasefire call from the rival forces, according to an military statement reported by several news site, including Saudi-owned Al Arabiya.
The army said it had launched "intensive strikes" on Friday against RFS, noting that the operations would continue across Khartoum, Sudanese news outlet al-Mashhad al-Sudani reports.
It said thousands of soldiers have been deployed to undertake the "combing operations" in the capital.
On Friday morning, the army was tweeting clips of its troops on the streets of the city, external.
Sudan News website said violent clashes continued in Omdurman, in the west of Khartoum, with "heavy weapons".
Ahmed Mamoun, a Khartoum resident, posted footage and photos, external of soldiers patrolling several streets in the capital.
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End of twitter postSounds of gunfire were reported in Khartoum in the early hours of Friday, with the RSF accusing the army of staging a “sweeping attack” on the capital.
How unsung heroes are keeping Sudanese alivepublished at 10:37 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
WhatsApp groups and social media are brimming with offers of help for those without food or medicine.
Read MoreSporadic fighting continues in Sudan capitalpublished at 09:56 British Summer Time 21 April 2023
David Bamford
BBC World Service News
Image source, ReutersImage caption, This is a screengrab from a video released on Friday by the military of its troops in Khartoum North
Sporadic fighting is continuing in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, despite the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) saying they were prepared to respect a three-day ceasefire with the army to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid.
The UN and several countries have been trying to persuade the two sides to agree to a truce.
The RSF said it had been forced to to act in "self-defence" to repel what it described as a coup attempt - but it would abide by the truce.
The army chief, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, made no mention of a ceasefire in a pre-recorded speech that has been posted on the army's Facebook page.
He said he remained committed to restoring Sudan to civilian rule, and called for everyone to abide by the slogan "One army, One people".