600 people have died in weeks of armed conflict in the Sudanese capital Khartoum

  by new reporter

More than 600 people have died and hundreds of injured in weeks of armed conflict in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday at Geneva.

Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman, announced the new figures at a UN briefing, including 604 dead and 5,127 injured since the unrest in Sudan began on April 14.

Jasarevic said there are now more than 700,000 internally displaced people in Sudan, more than double the 340,000 just a week ago. On April 15, fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and paramilitary rapid support units in and around Khartoum.

Disagreements between Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary force have fueled in recent months over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transitional agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed the interim government of Prime Minister Abdall Hamdok and declared a state of emergency in a move condemned by political forces as a "coup". Sudan's transitional period, which began in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, was due to end with elections in early 2024.