Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces agree ceasefire, says Blinken

Sudanese civilians trapped by the sudden outbreak of fighting are desperately short of food, water and medicine, aid agencies said.

Over the weekend, nations from around the world carried out evacuations of their diplomats and other civilians.

On Monday, a Royal Air Force transport plane landed at Port Sudan in the north-east of the country, with the aim of collecting British nationals who managed to reach the north-eastern coastal city from Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. On Monday, a UN convoy arrived from the capital carrying 700 people, an 850km journey.

The United Nations head of mission, Volker Perthes, said the convoy arrived safely.

The violence in Sudan has pitted army units loyal to its military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. Battles have been raging in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman over the past nine days.

The US military evacuated just under 100 embassy staff from Khartoum in three helicopters on Sunday, but the White House has said that a wider effort to airlift other Americans is unlikely in the next few days. Instead, the Pentagon said it is providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to help the state department identify potential land routes out of the country.