LONDON -- Fighting in Sudan between forces loyal to two rival generals has triggered a mass exodus of foreigners, while locals struggle to escape.
A number of countries -- including the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, Italy, Germany, France and Canada -- airlifted and evacuated diplomats, embassy staff and others from Sudan's war-torn capital over the weekend. Both the U.S. and Canadian governments also announced temporary suspensions of operations at their embassies in Khartoum.
MORE: US embassy staff in Sudan evacuated in 'fast and clean' operation amid fighting
Meanwhile, many Sudanese civilians remain trapped in the crossfire or are risking their lives attempting to flee by car to neighboring countries. Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala, who lives in Egypt's capital, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that his family is "on the road from Sudan to Cairo through Aswan." But he said his uncle's wife, who has been in a coma since before the conflict, still needs help getting out.
Abu Alala also posted photos that his family had shared showing stray bullets on the balcony and in the exterior walls of their home in Khartoum. He wrote in an earlier Facebook post that he was "very worried about what is happening" in his home country but that "we all saw it coming."
MORE: Sudan fighting persists on Eid holiday despite 72-hour cease-fire announcement
The violence erupted in Sudan on April 15 in a culmination of weeks of tensions between Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful Sudanese paramilitary group. The two men were once allies who had jointly orchestrated a military coup in 2021 that dissolved Sudan's power-sharing government and derailed its short-lived transition to democracy, following the ousting of a long-time dictator in 2019. Now, they are battling for control of the resource-rich North African nation and neither has shown any real indication of backing down, as proposed cease-fires have persistently collapsed.
MORE: Dead bodies line the streets amid fighting in Sudan; American confirmed among fatalities
The clashes started in Khartoum and quickly spread to other Sudanese cities, though "the heaviest concentration of fighting" remains centered in the densely populated capital, according to the World Health Organization, the global health arm of the United Nations. The international community has repeatedly called on Sudan's warring parties to immediately lay down their arms and engage in dialogue.
MORE: Blinken confirms attack on US diplomatic convoy in Sudan as fighting continues
More than 420 people have been killed and over 3,700 others have been wounded in the conflict, according to the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. At least 273 civilians are among the dead and 1,579 among the injured, according to the Sudan Doctors'