“I am deeply saddened by the death of our humanitarian colleague, and join his wife and newborn child, and our team in Sudan in mourning,” IOM Director-General Antonio Vitorino said.
The IOM said its 49-year-old worker was traveling with his family near El Obeid, a town southwest of the capital Khartoum, when he was shot.
Four UN employees have died in Sudan since fighting broke out six days ago.
Several countries are either organizing or preparing for potentially airlifting nationals out of Sudan as the conflict continues.
Here’s a roundup of other noteworthy developments in Sudan on Friday, April 21:
Sudan army agrees to 3-day cease-fire
The Sudanese army has agreed to a three-day cease-fire as of Friday “to allow citizens to celebrate Eid al-Fitr” as well as clearing the way for humanitarian services.
“The armed forces hopes that the rebels adhere to all the requirements of the cease-fire and halt any military movements that could hinder it,” it said in a statement.
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced they had agreed to a 72-hour humanitarian truce from 6 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) on Friday to coincide with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
According to the RSF, the truce was meant to create humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to evacuate and reunite with their loved ones.
The European Union and its member states are studying the potential for evacuating some 1,500 EU nationals currently trapped in Sudan.
A senior EU official was cited by the French AFP news agency as saying the bloc was working “on different possibilities for taking people out” of Khartoum, which is categorized as a “high-risk situation.”
“For the time being, the assessment of those on the ground, including the EU embassy, is that the security conditions are not in place for going ahead with an operation of this kind.”
Seven EU members were considering road evacuation, the official said, given the closure of the airport. They include France, Germany and Italy. He added that such an operation would require a three-day cease-fire.
“At that moment, it’s our expectation we will be fully prepared to go ahead with the evacuation of our nationals,” the official said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the country was readying for an evacuation once a cease-fire “holds for at least some time.”
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said his country’s air force planes were also ready, but that it’s “not possible to predict” when they could go ahead with an evacuation.
US preparing for potential evacuation, Austin says
The US military is preparing as many options as possible for a potential evacuation for the US embassy staff stuck in Sudan amid the fighting, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday.
Addressing reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Lloyd said that there have yet to be any decisions on movement.
“We’ve deployed some forces into theater to ensure that we provide as many options as possible if we are called on to do something. And we haven’t been called on to do anything yet,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, the US State Department announced the death of a US citizen amid the fighting, without providing any details.
The Pentagon had announced deployments to neighboring countries on Thursday, to be in a better position once an evacuation is possible. Media reports suggested troops began arriving in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
Khartoum’s international airport has been effectively shuttered since the clashes began on Saturday, being the scene of much of the fighting. Many nations have since been studying the options to evacuate their citizens.
UN cease-fire call
The power struggle between Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemeti, has already claimed 413 lives. The World Health Organization said more than 3,500 people had been wounded.
Early Friday, bombing and artillery shelling rang through the streets of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, despite behind-the-scenes truce negotiations.
“The army are moving around some residential areas [of the capital Khartoum] …trying to look for any RSF fighters that may be in those areas, to try to either arrest them or neutralize them,” journalist and political analyst Patrick Oyet told DW.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a cease-fire on Thursday to enable the safe passage of civilians.
A coalition of civil groups had announced that they had put forward a three-day truce proposal to the rival sides and that they had responded favorably. “We welcome the positive position of the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF),” the group said.
‘No option but decisive military action’
However, as battles raged, Burhan dismissed any prospects for negotiations with Daglo, telling broadcaster Al Jazeera that he saw no option but “decisive” military action without “any room for talks over politics.”
Daglo said the RSF’s agreement to stop fighting for the Eid holiday did not mean he was willing to talk with Burhan. “We are talking about a humanitarian truce, we are talking about safe passages … we are not talking about sitting down with a criminal,” he said, referring to Burhan.
In his first speech since the outbreak of fighting a week ago, Burhan said in a video message on Friday that the military remained committed to a transition to civilian rule, but he made no mention of a truce.
“We are confident that we will overcome this ordeal with our training, wisdom and strength, preserving the security and unity of the state, allowing us to be entrusted with the safe transition to civilian rule,” he said.