There is a high biohazard in the Sudanese capital Khartoum after one of the warring sides seized a laboratory that stored measles and cholera pathogens and other dangerous materials, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned today.

It was impossible for a technical team to reach the National Public Health Laboratory to ensure the safety of the materials, Sudan's Nima Saeed Abid of the WHO told reporters in Geneva via video conference.

"That's the main concern: the lack of access for technicians to the lab to go and ensure the safety of the biological material there," he said, deflecting the question of which of the two warring parties had seized the lab.

Fighting broke out on April 15. Forces loyal to two top generals are fighting each other as they try to take control of the government of Africa's third-largest country and the continent's third-largest producer of gold. They are gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan - head of the armed forces - and gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary group.

The fighting has killed at least 459 people and injured 4,072, according to the WHO.

The clashes paralyzed hospitals and other vital services and left many people without food or water from their homes.

The UN humanitarian agency has been forced to suspend some of its activities in parts of Sudan because of the intense fighting.

At least five aid workers have been killed since the fighting broke out. Two UN agencies lost staff - the International Organization for Migration and the World Food Program - and ceased operations.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has declared its readiness to continue the delivery of aid to the people of Sudan. The service team will lead humanitarian operations from Port Sudan after being withdrawn from the capital, Khartoum.

International Committee of the Red Cross regional director Patrick Youssef urged other countries to keep up pressure on Sudan to find a "durable solution" even after the foreigners are evacuated.

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