A group of warring factions in Sudan have agreed to a truce

The violence and evacuation of the Sudanese city of Khartoum despite a hoped for a truce between the U.S. and the Rapid Support Forces

KHARTOUM, Sudan — As foreign governments airlifted hundreds of their diplomats and other citizens from Sudan, Sudanese on Monday desperately sought ways to escape the chaos amid fears the country’s two rival generals could escalate their all-out battle for power once evacuations were completed.

Many Sudanese, along with Egyptians and other foreigners who could not get on flights, risked the long and dangerous drive to the northern border into Egypt.

Prominent Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abual-Ala wrote on Facebook that his mother, siblings and nephews “are on the road from Sudan to Cairo through Aswan,” referring to Egypt’s southernmost city.

There was fighting across the Nile River from Khartoum despite a hoped for cease fire to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

“We did not see such a truce,” Amin al-Tayed said from his home near state TV headquarters in Omdurman, adding that heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city.

Over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded in nine days of fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

The armed forces launched airstrikes on the upscale neighborhood of Kafouri. There was no response immediately from the army. The ongoing violence has affected operations at the main international airport, destroying civilian planes and damaging at least one runway, and thick, black smoke rose above it. In addition to this, other airports have also been knocked out.

Still, the two sides have eased fighting enough for the stream of international military aircraft to land in the Khartoum area and extract foreign citizens since Sunday.

The United States special operations forces parachuted in and out of Sudan in helicopters early Sunday to evacuate the U.S. Embassy personnel.

Nearly 400 people from 28 countries were brought out of France on four flights to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. A Dutch air force C-130 Hercules flew out of Sudan to Jordan in the early hours Monday carrying evacuees of various nationalities, including Dutch, on board. More than 300 people left Sudan for Jordan on three flights conducted by Germany.

Evacuations appeared likely to continue if conditions of fighting allow. The Americans said it was too dangerous to evacuate thousands of private U.S. citizens, but other countries were able to remove citizens who wanted to leave.

The evacuation of Japanese citizens and civilians in Sudan: The U.S. will keep trying to broker a lasting truce with the rest of the world

Japanese nationals are being transported by land to an eastern town to be picked up by Japanese aircraft positioned in Djibouti, Japanese media said. France and Germany each said they were prepared to do more flights if possible.

British diplomats and their dependents were evacuated by the U.K. armed forces. But Britain’s Middle East Minister, Andrew Mitchell, said about 2,000 U.K. citizens still in Sudan have registered with the embassy for potential evacuation. Many Britons in the country have complained about a lack of information from the government and say they are in the dark about any evacuation plans.

Egypt, which said it had over 10,000 citizens in Sudan, urged those in cities other than Khartoum to head to consular offices in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa in the north for evacuation, the state-run MENA news agency reported.

The EU foreign policy chief told reporters in Luxembourg on Monday that there were more than 1,000 EU members who had to leave the bloc.

Despite reports of persistent heavy gunfire in the streets of Khartoum, Thomas-Greenfield tells Inskeep the U.S. will keep trying to broker a lasting truce. “We want to engage with both parties at senior levels and make sure they get to the negotiating table.”

The army chief, Gen. Abdel-fattah Burhan, has appeared to be determined to fight to the end. Thousands of people have fled to other areas of Sudan but millions of people are at home without enough food or water, the UN agencies said.

Hospitals have been challenged by violence. Many wounded are stranded by the fighting, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate that monitors casualties, suggesting the death toll is probably higher than what is known.

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The generals came to power after the ousting of the strongman. The generals made a plan to take power in a coup.

The current violence came after Burhan and Dagalo fell out over a recent internationally brokered deal with democracy activists that was meant to incorporate the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.

Khalid Omar, a spokesman for the pro-democracy bloc that seeks to restore civilian rule, urged both generals to resolve their differences. He said that there was an opportunity to stop this war and put the county on the right path. “This is a war fueled by groups from the deposed regime who want it to continue.”

In other fighting, a senior military official said it repelled an RSF attack on Kober Prison in Khartoum where al-Bashir and former officials in his movement are held. A number of prisoners fled and some were killed or wounded, but al-Bashir and other high-profile inmates were in a “highly secure” area, the official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Netblocks director Alp Toker said it would have a major effect on the ability of residents to stay safe. ___ Writers who contributed to the report are: Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Michael Corder in The Hague, Paris, and Francis D’Emilio in Rome.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, explains the Sudan crisis after a U.N. cease-fire

According to Doka, the other physicians are being whisked to makeshift hospitals in order to treat the members of the military who are against them. He says he’s treating patients at his home because of the “real threat” of abduction.

“Right now we are only able to work within the parameters of our neighborhoods,” Doka says. Patients come to my house and I operate on them.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, tells Morning Edition she’s hopeful that — unlike a cease-fire declared last week — a truce brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia will hold, opening a window for more medical and humanitarian care and civilian departures.

“We’re hoping this is better,” Thomas-Greenfield says in an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep. “We’re working towards getting both parties to agree to implement a sustained nationwide cease-fire and go back to the negotiating table.”

Following the shuttering of the U.S. Embassy and an airlift of diplomatic personnel and their families from Khartoum on Saturday, an estimated 16,000 Americans, many with dual citizenship, remain in Sudan.

Thomas-Greenfield says the diplomatic withdrawal is a suspension of operations. “We fully intend to resume those operations as soon as it is safe for us to do so.”

The ambassador to the United Nations describes “overland convoys” that the U.S. is assisting, just as it did with a U.N. evacuation Monday that involved about 1,000 people. “The president has directed our security and other forces to provide intel and overhead surveillance.”

Refugee aid groups say tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians have fled into bordering countries to escape a conflict that erupted after a power-sharing agreement broke down. The leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the commander of Sudan’s armed forces collaborated to overthrow the government. Aid groups have accused both Burhan and Dagalo, also known as Hemedit, of human rights atrocities in the past.