Germany Forced to Halt Evacuation Mission from Sudan

Smoke rises behind buildings in Khartoum on April 19, 2023, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed. (AFP)
Smoke rises behind buildings in Khartoum on April 19, 2023, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed. (AFP)
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Germany Forced to Halt Evacuation Mission from Sudan

Smoke rises behind buildings in Khartoum on April 19, 2023, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed. (AFP)
Smoke rises behind buildings in Khartoum on April 19, 2023, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed. (AFP)

A mission by the German military to evacuate around 150 citizens from Sudan had to be halted on Wednesday due to fighting in the capital Khartoum, the Spiegel news magazine reported citing unnamed sources.

A spokesperson for the defense ministry declined to comment on the report. The foreign ministry did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

Spiegel said the Luftwaffe air force had dispatched three A400M transport planes for the mission early on Wednesday. The planes had landed in Greece for a refueling stop.

The Bundeswehr military aborted the mission amid reports of renewed clashes and airstrikes in Khartoum, according to the report.

Fighting erupted in Sudan on Saturday, killing at least 185 people and derailing an internationally backed plan for a transition to civilian democracy in the country.

Foreign powers, including the United States, have pushed for a ceasefire between the army and paramilitary forces amid concerns over the increasingly dire humanitarian situation.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.