Gunfire and explosions could be heard after nightfall in Omdurman, one of Khartoum's sister cities on the Nile River where the army used drones to target RSF positions. The army also used drones to try to drive fighters back from a fuel refinery in Bahri, the third city at the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile.

U.N. special envoy on Sudan Volker Perthes told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the ceasefire "seems to be holding in some parts so far." But he said that neither party showed readiness to "seriously negotiate, suggesting that both think that securing a military victory over the other is possible. This is a miscalculation."

Since Sudan erupted in warfare between the army and the RSF on April 15, derailing a transition to civilian democracy, the paramilitaries have embedded themselves in residential districts and the army has sought to target them from the air.

A projectile hit Al-Roumi medical centre in Omdurman on Tuesday and exploded inside the facility, injuring 13 people, a hospital official said. Khartoum's airport was operational but the tarmac damaged.

PRISONERS RELEASED

In a further sign of deteriorating security, former Sudanese Minister Ahmed Haroun, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, said he and other officials were allowed to leave Kober prison.

Following reports of a prison break in recent days, Haroun said that conditions at Kober had deteriorated badly. A protester imprisoned there said in a taped statement posted online on Sunday that prisoners had been let go after a week with no water or food.

Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) said one of the warring parties took control of a national health facility in Khartoum and expressed concern about potential biological hazards from measles and cholera pathogens for vaccinations stored there.
-
U.S. President Joe Biden's national security team is continuing to talk to Sudan's rival military leaders to end fighting and provide humanitarian aid. The fighting has paralysed hospitals and other essential services, and left many people stranded in their homes with dwindling supplies of food and water. With bodies scattered in the streets, international aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had been unable to get fresh supplies or personnel into Sudan.

The U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) said shortages of food, water, medicines and fuel were becoming "extremely acute", prices were surging and it had cut back operations for safety reasons.

The U.N. refugee agency forecast that hundreds of thousands of people might flee into neighbouring countries.

'WHY IS THE WORLD ABANDONING US?'

As foreign governments evacuated their nationals, those with nowhere to go said they felt forsaken. Since the fighting erupted, tens of thousands have left for neighbouring Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

"There is nothing left in stores, no water, no food. People have started to go out armed, with axes, with sticks," French journalist Augustine Passilly said by phone as she tried to cross the border into Egypt.

• Top CNN anchor taken off air after Nikki Haley comment - media
• CNN's rating for 'This Morning' jumped 5% without Don Lemon: report
• CNN anchor Don Lemon is sued by a Hamptons bartender over alleged assault
• Man accusing Don Lemon of sexual harassment slams CNN for being 'a predator protecting machine'
• CNN's Don Lemon: 'We have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat is white men'
• Dangerous rhetoric: CNN covidian Lemon says unvaccinated "idiots" like Novak Djokovic shouldn't be part of "polite society"

• Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News
• Fox loses $1 BILLION after 'parting ways' with Tucker Carlson