UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk has said the shelling in Sudan has left thousands of civilians trapped in their homes.

Many were without electricity and could not get food, water or medicine, Mr Türk said in Geneva on Tuesday.

On Saturday, fighting broke out between the country’s two powerful generals and their respective units.

The men have been in power in the northeastern African country since a joint military coup in 2021.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) condemned at least three attacks on health facilities in which three people were killed.

There were not enough blood reserves, medicines or bandages at nine hospitals in the capital Khartoum.

In some places, military forces have occupied health facilities.

“These attacks must stop,” a WHO spokeswoman said.

The Red Cross in Sudan and many other countries are on the ground with thousands of aid workers ready to help, said the Sudan head of the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Farid Abdulkadir.

He said the Kenyan capital Nairobi, nearly 3,000 kilometres south of Khartoum, has water and food for distribution, but the security situation does not allow volunteers.

He said only about 240 Red Cross workers supported the hospital staff.

“We are asking for humanitarian corridors,” he said.

(dpa/NAN)