Image source, Getty Images

People in Sudan's capital Khartoum are running out of food and water after three days of heavy fighting, a human rights activist tells the BBC.

Duaa Tariq says activists are organising peaceful resistance to military rule in the wake of the violence and calling for a peaceful transition to civilian government in Sudan.

But she says people have been without power for two days, shops are closed and local residents did not have time to restock on supplies in many parts of the capital.

Tariq tells BBC World Service's Newsday programme that the sound of explosions and gunfire are particularly loud this morning, as the fighting continues in cities around Sudan.

She adds the situation is "terrifying" for her family, as her sister and young nephew have fled even fiercer clashes nearby to stay with her.

Image source, Reuters

And here's more from UK foreign secretary James Cleverly - who's with his American counterpart Antony Blinken in Japan for a G7 foreign ministers' meeting.

Noting that his department had already advised against travel to Sudan, Cleverly says one of his top priorities has been to make sure British nationals at the embassy in Khartoum are "safe and accounted for", and are receiving support from London.

He continued: "But ultimately, the immediate future lies in the hands of the generals who are engaged in this fight and we call upon them to put peace first, to bring an end to the fighting and to get back to negotiations.

"That's why the people of Sudan want. That's what the people of Sudan deserve and we will continue to seek ways to support that road back to peace."

Image source, Reuters

Let's bring you more of those comments from Antony Blinken, who's called for an immediate end to the violence.

Speaking to reporters, Blinken said there was a deep concern about the fighting and violence in Sudan, especially the threat posed to civilians.

"People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy," he said.

"They want a civilian-led government. Sudan needs to return to that path."

Image source, Reuters

Since a coup in October 2021, Sudan has been run by a council of generals and there are two military men at the centre of the dispute.

Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the armed forces and in effect the country's president.

And his deputy and leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.

They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in, and the proposed move towards civilian rule.

One of the main sticking points is over the plans to include the 100,000-strong RSF into the army - and who would then lead the new force.

The violence follows days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.

There had been some hope that talks could resolve the situation but these never happened.

It is not clear who fired the first shot on Saturday morning, but there are fears that these hostilities could worsen an already unstable situation.

• A quick guide to the situation in Sudan

Let's bring you some international comment - first from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who says the White House has been "consulting very closely" on the situation in Sudan.

He says there is a shared view among allies that hostilities should be ended immediately, with a return to talks.

Blinken's British counterpart James Cleverly, meanwhile, has called on the generals involved in the fighting "to put peace first".

The clashes between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force show the clear need for reform of Sudan's security apparatus, Sudan's former foreign minister has told the BBC.

Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi says heavy gunfire can still be heard around the capital Khartoum, including reports of the use of artillery on social media.

She is a member of Sudan's former civilian government, established after the overthrow of former dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and itself then displaced by a coup in 2021.

Speaking to the World Service's Newsday programme, al-Mahdi says traditional reporting in the country has collapsed and each side is giving out contradictory reports of what areas of the city they control.

James FitzGerald
Live reporter

We're back with further live coverage of the fighting in Sudan.

Almost 100 civilians have now died, says the country's doctors union.

And more violence has been reported this morning, with residents reporting sustained gunfire in the capital, Khartoum.

The conflict - which is now in its third day - is between the army and a rival paramilitary force.

Stay with us as we bring you live updates.

We're going to pause our live coverage of events in Sudan, but there are other places you can go to for the latest updates:

• our news story will be kept up to date with all the latest developments

• we have this really simple guide to what's going on in Sudan
• here is a report from our correspondent in Khartoum

Today's coverage was brought to you by our editor Rob Corp; the writers were Alexandra Fouché, Michael Shiels McNamee, Robert Plummer and James Gregory, and we were joined by Nadeem Shad, Jack Burgess and Gem O'Reilly from our video team.

Before we close our live coverage, here is a brief recap of today's events in Sudan:

• The Sudanese army and the rival RSF militia observed a brief humanitarian pause in the fighting that erupted on Saturday
• The WFP earlier announced it was temporarily suspending its operations after three of its employees were killed in the Darfur region
• WFP executive director Cindy McCain said she was "appalled and heartbroken" by the killing
• Residents in Khartoum and Port Sudan have been describing the fighting in their cities, with many too scared to leave their homes to go out
• One aid worker told us she was stuck inside a school with her son after going there on Saturday morning to play tennis
• Regional bodies the African Union and the Arab League have been holding emergency meetings to discuss the crisis
• The warring factions are making competing claims about areas that they have seized and it has been difficult to get an accurate picture of what is happening on the ground

New satellite images of Khartoum from Maxar Technologies show the extent of the fighting between rival Sudanese armed factions.

Thick, black smoke is seen drifting across the city, while a number of government buildings have been destroyed and are continuing to burn.

They include the army headquarters, the defence ministry and the energy ministry.

At Khartoum International Airport, various planes have been damaged or incinerated by an earlier fire.

Image source, Maxar Technologies

Image source, Maxar Technologies

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for "justice without delay" for the deaths of three staff during violence in Kabkabiya, in north Darfur region, his spokesman says.

"The premises of the UN and other humanitarian organisations have also been hit by projectiles and looted in several places Darfur," Stéphane Dujarric said in the statement.

Two more people were injured and the UN's World Food Programme suspended its operations in Sudan as a result of the killings.

Sudan, once the largest and one of the most geographically diverse states in Africa, split into two countries in July 2011 after the people of the south voted for independence.

The government of Sudan gave its blessing to an independent South Sudan, where the mainly Christian and Animist people had for decades been struggling against rule by the Arab Muslim north.

However, various outstanding issues - especially the question of shared oil revenues and border demarcation - have continued to create tensions between the two successor states.

Sudan has long been beset by conflict. Two rounds of north-south civil war cost the lives of 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven two million people from their homes and killed more than 200,000.

• You can find our country profile of Sudan here

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The latest deadly violence is rooted in a power struggle between two military men: one, Sudan's leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan; the other, his deputy, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

He first came to prominence when he led militias on horseback during the war in Darfur, which some described as a genocide.

Five years ago, there was huge optimism in Sudan following a revolution that led to the ousting of the dictatorial leader Omar al-Bashir who held power for 30 years.

Now, the country is going backwards.

The path to civilian rule was always going to be difficult as Sudan has been ruled with an iron fist for so long.

The army seemed unable to give way, staging a coup in 2021 which derailed the transition and led to months of opposition protests in which dozens were killed.

And now the military are fighting amongst themselves, with civilians caught in the middle, their dreams of a new Sudan shattered.

Mohamed Osman
BBC Arabic, Khartoum

Image source, Getty Images

Long queues formed at bakeries and the few shops that remained open on Sunday, as some people briefly ventured out to buy food before returning home to safety.

Later a three-hour pause in hostilities came into force to allow thousands of locked down people to move and for the injured to get to hospital.

Among residents, there is shock - and also anger at what has happened over the past two days.

Unlike other parts of the country such as the often turbulent western Darfur region, Khartoum is not used to war. This is the first time that people in the capital have seen such clashes.

Read more from the BBC's Mohamed Osman in Khartoum

Clashes have been taking place at several locations in the centre of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

According to the army, the conflict began when Rapid Support Forces paramilitary fighters attacked its General Command, although the RSF says it was attacked first.

The RSF has claimed to be in control of the Republican Palace, the seat of the country's presidency, as well as Khartoum International Airport.

However, the military says it still controls all bases and airports.

Image source, .

Why so many countries are keeping a close eye on Sudanpublished at 17:23 British Summer Time 16 April 2023

17:23 BST 16 April 2023

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

Sudan is one of the poorest countries, per capita, in the Arab world. But its natural resources and its strategic location on the Red Sea have attracted the attention of its Arab neighbours as well as global powers like the US.

Russia is keen to establish a naval base on the coast and has been in talks about this with Sudan’s military leaders.

Washington wants to prevent this and also has no wish to see Sudan return to the days when it hosted terrorist groups like Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaida. Under US pressure, Sudan recently established diplomatic relations with Israel.

Nearer at hand, Egypt is in a close alliance with Khartoum, with both countries viewing Ethiopia with suspicion bordering on hostility.

Since the ousting of Sudan’s military ruler General Omar Al-Bashir in 2019, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have built up ties with Khartoum. The Saudis persuaded Sudan to send forces to join its side in Yemen’s disastrous civil war.

The UAE sees Sudan as part of a regional network against political Islam which it views as a threat to its own way of government.

None of this suggests much hope of an early end to Sudan’s own internal struggles.

The head of the pan-continental African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, is planning to "immediately" go on a ceasefire mission to Sudan, the body said in a statement on Sunday.

The organisation has been meeting to discuss the situation in Sudan.

Humanitarian pause will allow civilians to escapepublished at 16:57 British Summer Time 16 April 2023

16:57 BST 16 April 2023

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

As we reported earlier, the army and the rival RSF militia have agreed to a brief humanitarian pause in the fighting that erupted on Saturday - it has about an hour left to run.

The aim of the "humanitarian" pause is to allow the escape of the tens of thousands of civilians who have been trapped in their homes as fighting rages around them.

It is also to enable the injured to get to hospital.

It is unlikely the warring sides will pay much attention to the chorus of international voices calling for an end to the violence.

The head of the RSF militia says Sudan's leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is a criminal who must surrender.

The army says there will be no negotiations until the RSF is dissolved.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdul is said to have had separate phone calls with the leaders of the warring factions in Sudan and called for an end to military escalation between the two sides, Saudi state media has reported.

The minister called for calm, state media said.

He spoke to the leaders on the two sides - Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan's transitional governing Sovereign Council, and with the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Reuters news agency says.

Sudan state television is said to have stopped transmissions, according to Reuters reporters in Khartoum and several other cities outside the country.

It was not immediately clear what caused the break in programming, the news agency said.