Sudan's Al Bashir 'moved from jail to hospital before fighting'

Questions abound over whereabouts of deposed president after ex-minister said he left prison with other former officials

Sudan's former president Omar Al Bashir in 2019. AP

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Sudan's toppled president Omar Al Bashir was moved from Kober prison to a military hospital in Khartoum before heavy fighting broke out there on April 15, the army said on Wednesday.

Al Bashir and 30 others are in police custody at the hospital on the recommendation of staff at Kober prison, where he was being detained, it said.

The whereabouts of Al Bashir came under scrutiny after a former minister in his government, Ahmed Haroun, said on Tuesday he had left the prison with other former officials.

Both Al Bashir and Haroun are wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged atrocities in Darfur. Haroun told Sudan's Tayba TV that the officials were ready to appear before the judiciary whenever it was functioning.

Sudan's interior ministry also said that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke into five prisons and freed inmates there between April 21 and 24, including Kober prison.

Fighting flared in Sudan late on Tuesday despite a ceasefire declaration by the warring factions as more people fled Khartoum in the chaos.

The Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire beginning on Tuesday after negotiations mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia.

It follows reports that inmates at the prison, which held former president Al Bashir and other ex-officials, had escaped earlier this week.

Sudanese citizens and foreigners fled the capital on Tuesday as fighting followed a three-day truce brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia.

“The pause was not fully upheld, with attacks on headquarters, attempts to gain ground, air strikes, and explosions in different areas of the capital,” UN Special Representative Volker Perthes told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Mr Perthes said he maintained contact with both generals at war, army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his former deputy, Gen Mohamed Dagalo, who commands the RSF.

“There is yet no unequivocal sign that either is ready to seriously negotiate,” Mr Perthes said.

A series of short ceasefires in the past week have either failed or brought only short pauses in fighting between forces loyal to the country's two top generals.

A member of the Saudi Navy carries a child from a ship at Jeddah's port during the kingdom's evacuation of civilians from Sudan. Reuters

Indian nationals evacuated from Sudan arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. EPA

Sudanese refugees queue to receive aid from the World Food Programme near the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad. Reuters

Tunisian citizens evacuated from Sudan leave a military aircraft upon their arrival at Tunis-Carthage International Airport. AFP

Indians evacuated from Sudan arrive on a flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. AP Photo

Moroccan nationals, who have been evacuated from Sudan, arrive at Mohammed V airport in Casablanca, Morocco. EPA

A boat with 1,687 civilians from more than 50 countries fleeing violence in Sudan, arrives at King Faisal naval base in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. AFP

RSF fighters in the East Nile district of greater Khartoum. AFP

Passengers disembark a plane from Djibouti at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport near Paris after being evacuated from Sudan. AFP

Buildings destroyed in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. AP

Passengers fleeing the fighting in Sudan arrive at Wadi Karkar bus station in Aswan, Egypt. EPA

Ali Mazloum, a Lebanese citizen who was evacuated from Sudan, is welcomed upon his arrival at Beirut airport. Reuters

A woman helps another after fleeing clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum. Reuters

Soldiers attend to Greek citizens evacuated from Sudan as they disembark from a military aircraft in Attica, Greece. EPA

People carry hibiscus juice and cold water for those being evacuated from Khartoum to Port Sudan. Reuters

Thais wait to be evacuated by boat at a port in Sudan. EPA

Greek citizens arrive from Sudan on a military plane in Elefsina, south of Athens. AFP

Japan's senior Vice Foreign Minister Shunsuke Takei welcomes his country's citizens in Djibouti after they were rescued from Sudan. AFP

A member of the Saudi Royal Navy carries a child who was rescued from Sudan, in Jeddah. Reuters

A military plane carrying evacuees arrives at Ciampino Airport near Rome, Italy. Reuters

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani greets the country's ambassador to Sudan, Michele Tommasi, as he arrives at Ciampino Airport. Reuters

South Korea's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Park Joon-yong, at a Saudi Air Force base in Jeddah, where he met diplomats from his country evacuated from Sudan by the kingdom's air force. Reuters

Having fled from Sudan, a South Korean nun disembarks from a military plane after landing at King Abdullah Air Base in Jeddah. AFP

People gather as they seek to escape the violence in Khartoum. Reuters

Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens wait to disembark from a military plane after being evacuated from Sudan, in Djibouti. Reuters

A closed pharmacy and shops in the south of Khartoum as battles rage in the capital between the army and paramilitaries. AFP

Passengers from Sudan disembark from a Spanish Air Force plane at Torrejon Airbase in Madrid. AP

People evacuated from Sudan arrive at a military airport in Amman. AFP

Jordan was among those countries to have rapidly flown its citizens in Sudan to safety. AFP

This child was one of those to have arrived safely in Amman. AFP

A building in Khartoum burns as violence rages in Sudan. EPA

Italian citizens are flown out of the Sudanese capital on a military aircraft. Reuters

The fighting has caused heavy damage to parts of Khartoum. EPA

Indonesian citizens travel on a bus during an evacuation operation in Khartoum. EPA

A Spanish military aircraft takes off from Khartoum as European countries rescue citizens from Sudan. Reuters

Jordanians arrive at a military airport in Amman after their evacuation from Sudan to escape the fighting. AP

French troops arrive at an air base in Djibouti to prepare to evacuate about 100 people from Sudan. AFP

Smoke rises from buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army in Khartoum. Reuters

Saudis are met by Saudi Royal Navy staff as they arrive at Jeddah on the Red Sea after being evacuated from Sudan. Reuters

The streets of southern Khartoum bear the scars of fighting between two factions of the Sudanese military. AFP

A convoy leaves Khartoum for Port Sudan as fighting between military factions in the Sudanese capital continues. AFP

A civilian convoy leaving Khartoum for Port Sudan. AFP

Saudi citizens and people of other nations are evacuated by the Saudi Royal Navy from Port Sudan to escape the conflict. Reuters

A photo from October 2017 of the US embassy in Khartoum. AFP

Saudi citizens are met by Saudi Royal Navy staff as they arrive at Jeddah after being evacuated from Sudan. Reuters

Smoke hangs over Khartoum as factions belonging to the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces go back to trading gunfire after a ceasefire failed. AP

At least 450 people, including civilians and fighters, have been killed, and more than 4,000 wounded in the fighting, the UN said, citing Sudan’s Health Ministry.

Aid agencies are concerned at the humanitarian situation in a country reliant on outside help.

Calls for negotiations to end the crisis in Africa’s third-largest nation have been ignored. For many Sudanese, the departure of diplomats, aid workers and other foreigners and the closure of embassies are terrifying signs that international powers expect the mayhem to get worse.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the power struggle between rival generals and their military forces was not only putting Sudan's future at risk, but was also “lighting a fuse that could detonate across borders, causing immense suffering for years, and setting development back by decades”.

He urged the Sudanese military and the RSF “to silence the guns” immediately.

“The conflict will not, and must not, be resolved on the battlefield,” Mr Guterres told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council late on Tuesday.

Thousands of Sudanese have fled Khartoum and its neighbouring city of Omdurman. Bus stations in the capital were packed on Tuesday morning with people who had spent the night there in hopes of getting on a departing bus.

The 72-hour ceasefire was announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with the rival forces saying on Tuesday that they would observe the truce.

But fighting continued, with explosions, gunfire and the roar of fighter planes overhead around the capital region.

“They stop only when they run out of ammunition,” Omdurman resident Amin Ishaq said.

Al Roumy hospital in Omdurman said it suspended services after it was hit by a shell Tuesday.

“They don’t respect ceasefires,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, a senior figure in the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, a group that monitors casualties.