Washington: As deadly hostilities enter a third week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is dispatching an envoy to the Sudan region in response to the "unprecedented" situation there, his spokesman announced on Sunday.

The announcement came as fighting between the army and heavily armed paramilitaries continued in Khartoum despite a widely violated cease-fire being extended for another 72 hours.

Martin Griffiths, the UN's emergency relief coordinator and the envoy, said in a separate statement on Sunday that the "humanitarian situation in Sudan is reaching breaking point."

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I'm headed to the area to see how we can help the millions of people whose lives have been turned upside down over night, he said.

However, widespread looting of warehouses and offices belonging to aid organisations had "depleted most of our supplies. We are looking into quick solutions to bring in and distribute more supplies," he said.

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He continued, "stopping the fighting" would be the "obvious solution."
Since fighting started on April 15, more than 500 people have died and tens of thousands have been compelled to flee their homes for safer areas at home or abroad.

In a statement announcing Griffiths' deployment, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the envoy would travel "to the region immediately in light of the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan."

"The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan," he said in a statement. We have serious concerns.

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According to Griffiths, families were having difficulty getting access to water, food, fuel, and other necessities, and some were unable to move because it would be too expensive to travel outside of the worst-affected areas. His statement that urgent medical care "is severely constrained, raising the risk of preventable death." He added that five containers of emergency supplies, including intravenous fluids, were docked in Port Sudan and awaited clearance from authorities.