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Fighting between the army and paramilitaries in Sudan has killed around 200 people and wounded 1,800, damaging hospitals and hampering aid on Monday after three days of urban warfare, AFP reported. A weeks-long power struggle exploded into deadly violence Saturday between the forces of two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Analysts say the fighting in the capital of the chronically unstable country is unprecedented and could be prolonged, despite regional and global calls for a ceasefire as diplomats mobilise. The European Union's ambassador to Sudan was attacked in his home in Khartoum on Monday, the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said. A spokesperson told AFP the veteran diplomat was "OK" following the assault. "Security of diplomatic premises and staff is a primary responsibility of Sudanese authorities and an obligation under international law," Borrell said, according to AFP. Battles have taken place throughout the vast country and there are fears of regional spillover. Terrified residents of the capital are spending the last and holiest days of Ramadan watching from their windows as tanks roll through the streets, buildings shake, and smoke from fires triggered by the fighting hangs in the air. The conflict has seen air strikes, artillery and heavy gunfire. Those compelled to venture out face queues for bread and petrol at outlets which are not shuttered. Residents are also dealing with power outages.

Hospitals 'out of service'

Volker Perthes, the head of the United Nations mission to Sudan, told the Security Council in a closed-door session that at least 185 people have been killed and another 1,800 wounded. "It's a very fluid situation so it's very difficult to say where the balance is shifting to," Perthes told reporters after the meeting. Earlier Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres again urged Sudan's warring parties to "immediately cease hostilities". He warned that further escalation "could be devastating for the country and the region." Medics in Sudan had earlier given a death toll of nearly 100 civilians and "dozens" of fighters from both sides, but the number of casualties was thought to be far higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals. The official doctors' union warned fighting had "heavily damaged" multiple hospitals in Khartoum and other cities, with some completely "out of service". The World Health Organization had already warned that several Khartoum hospitals tending to wounded civilians "have run out of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids and other vital supplies". In the western region of Darfur, international medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported receiving 136 wounded patients at the only hospital in El Fasher still operating in North Darfur state, AFP reported. "The majority of the wounded are civilians who were caught in the crossfire -- among them are many children," MSF's Cyrus Paye said. Due to limited surgical capacity, "11 people died from their injuries in the first 48 hours of the conflict."

Call for talks

Three UN World Food Programme staff were also among those killed, on Saturday in Darfur, where humanitarian missions have had medical and other supplies looted, according to Save the Children and MSF. A number of organisations have temporarily suspended operations in the country, where one-third of the population needs aid. "This renewed fighting only aggravates what was already a fragile situation, forcing UN agencies and our humanitarian partners to temporarily shutter many of our more than 250 programmes across Sudan," said UN emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths. Diplomatic manoeuvres seemed to ramp up on Monday, as the fighting showed no signs of abating. Influential northern neighbour Egypt announced it had discussed with Saudi Arabia, South Sudan and Djibouti -- all close allies of Sudan -- "the need to make every effort to preserve stability and safety". President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on the two warring parties to "return to the negotiating table" and said he was working on the return of Egyptian military "trainers" captured Saturday at an air base by RSF forces, according to AFP. The Gulf emirate Qatar spoke to African Union commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat, who is planning to "immediately" undertake a ceasefire mission. There are no more civilian flights arriving in Khartoum, where fighting has damaged aircraft.

This year's media headlines in regard with the availability of school textbooks for a new academic year are something heartening compared to the past. This time students from almost all community schools across the country have already got textbooks and in case of some districts, they are likely to get it before the completion of the enrollment campaign. According to the Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC), textbooks are likely to be dispatched to all schools by April 23. As the JEMC said, community schools’ students in 59 districts have received almost all textbooks and in the remaining 18 districts, it will be made available by the next one week. This time students will not be forced to sit for exams without seeing textbooks, it is said. The government took the help of the private sector to print the school textbooks from grade one to five and the JEMC, the government entity, was authorized to publish the books from class six to ten for the academic year 2080 BS. The private sector is sending books to schools as per its responsibilities and the JEMC has already finished the printing and distribution of 10.5 million textbooks. It may be noted that earlier Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had pledged to ensure the timely distribution of school textbooks for the new academic session and it was his special concern that students should get textbooks on time unlike the past culture. JEMC Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha said the Prime Minister's constant concern over the timely supplies of textbooks also played a role for making it possible. This is the time that students could get textbooks on time after the 1990's multiparty movement. Mountainous districts such as Jumla, Humla and Dolpa were the priorities of the Centre for the dispatch of textbooks.

Nepal reported 104 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 571 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 63 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 061 people underwent antigen tests, of which 41 were tested positive. The Ministry said that 60 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 379 active cases in the country.

Lawmakers have called on the government to be accountable to the Parliament and implement the directives given by the parliamentary committees. Taking part in a discussion on the evaluation and follow-up report on the implementation of National Concern and Coordination Committee's annual reports for the fiscal year 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, they urged the government to be serious on implementing the reports brought by the parliamentary committees after intensive deliberation. Lawmaker Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa criticized the government for not being serious towards the directives and suggestions given by the committee to the government. Gopi Bahadur Sarki Achhami stressed on fully implementing the directives related to implementation of the federalism and finalizing the issue on fiscal federalism. Jayanti Devi Rai said the national pride projects were not giving the due returns commensurate with the investments made in them. Anita Devkota said many national pride projects were in limbo and there was lack of coordination at different structural levels. She complained that projects which were said to be completed in five years have not been completed even in 15 years. Khimlal Devkota alleged that the federal government has a mentality of centralization when it comes to making various legislations facilitating the provincial governments. Tulasa Kumari Dahal pointed out the lack of inter-ministry coordination in implementing the national pride projects. She wanted to know about the government's preparation in the face of increasing COVID-19 cases. Kamala Panta complained about the overly delay in the construction of Budhigandaki Project despite adequate budget. Devendra Dahal said the government has not even implemented 30 percent of the directives of the parliamentary committees. Ganga Kumari Belbase drew the attention of the government over the tardy progress in the construction of the Nijgadh Expressway. Madan Kumari Shah (Garima) called attention of the government to vigorously resolve the problems encountered in the construction of the national pride projects and also to pay attention to the quality of works. Bimala Rai Paudyal stressed on the need of improvement in the process and procedures of project construction. She said the 'track record' of the construction companies should be thoroughly evaluated before awarding them the contract for construction of projects. Jitendra Narayan Dev said the government is not taking the committee's directives seriously while Shekhar Kumar Singh urged the government for implementation of the directives of all the four committees of the National Assembly as they are to assist the government. He also called attention to the government over the renting out of the land belonging to the Pashupati Development Trust. Before this, the meeting unanimously approved a proposal seeking consideration over the evaluation and follow-up reports. Committee president Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa had presented the proposal in this connection.