Dubai: Omar Al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, was transferred from Kober prison to a military hospital in the nation's capital just before fierce fighting erupted there on April 15.
After Ali Haroun, a former minister in Bashir's administration, declared on Tuesday that he and other former officials had left the prison, speculation about Bashir's whereabouts increased.
The International Criminal Court is seeking both Bashir and Haroun for alleged atrocities in Darfur.
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Even though the warring parties declared a cease-fire late on Tuesday, fighting broke out again as more people fled Khartoum in the ensuing chaos.
After talks that were mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) decided to a 72-hour cease-fire that will start on Tuesday.
A Reuters reporter reported that after dusk, gunfire and explosions could be heard in Omdurman, one of Khartoum's sister cities on the Nile River, where the army was using drones to target RSF positions. Volker Perthes, the UN Security Council's special envoy for Sudan, stated on Tuesday that the cease-fire "seems to be holding in some parts so far."
He claimed, however, that neither side demonstrated a willingness to "seriously negotiate, suggesting that both think that securing a military victory over the other is possible."
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The tarmac was damaged but the airport in Khartoum was still open, according to Perthes, who added, "This is a calculation error."
With no indication that the warring parties are prepared to engage in serious negotiations, the first Turkish civilians who had been evacuated from Sudan returned to Turkiye on Wednesday, according to Saudi Arabia, which also claimed to have evacuated 1,674 other people in addition to 13 of its own citizens.
The Turks travelled overland from Khartoum to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
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Later on Wednesday, additional flights were anticipated to transport the Turkish nationals who had entered Ethiopia from Sudan.