Foreign states seek Sudan evacuations after US pulls out diplomats

As a result of clashes between competing military factions that have brought about a humanitarian crisis, the United States announced that it has evacuated its embassy employees from Sudan. However, other countries’ evacuation plans appeared to be having difficulties on Sunday.

A convoy of French citizens was attacked, according to claims made by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and the belligerent army of Sudan. One French individual was reportedly hurt in the incident, according to both groups. The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the reports, despite having earlier said that it was evacuating its residents and diplomatic personnel.

A convoy of Qataris traveling to Port Sudan was allegedly attacked and looted by the RSF, according to the army. Regarding any event, Doha made no quick statement.

Without going into any detail, Egypt reported that a member of its mission in the Sudan had been shot.

President Joe Biden reiterated pleas for a truce that have so far mostly gone unheeded while announcing that the U.S. was temporarily ceasing activities at its embassy in Khartoum but remained dedicated to the Sudanese people.

The belligerent parties must immediately and unconditionally halt hostilities, permit unrestricted humanitarian access, and respect the wishes of the Sudanese people, according to a statement from Biden.

Gunfire continued to resound in certain parts, as seen on live TV feeds, while thick smoke was still hanging over the capital, Khartoum, and its sister cities, Bahri and Ombdurman.

On April 15, four years after long-reigning despot Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a popular uprising, fighting broke out in Khartoum and other regions of the country, resulting in the deaths of over 400 people.

It sets the RSF against the Sudanese army after they disagreed during talks over a proposal to establish a civilian administration and incorporate the RSF into the armed forces after they co-staged a coup in 2021.

The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, and the army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have not adhered to ceasefires that had been agreed upon nearly every day, including a three-day ceasefire for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, which started on Friday.

Intense combat has persisted around the army’s headquarters in central Khartoum, the airport, which has been shut down by the fighting, and over the past two days in Bahri, where the army has attempted to push the RSF back using both ground forces and aerial attacks.

On Sunday, the RSF reported that dozens of its personnel had been “killed and injured” as a result of airstrikes on Bahri’s Kafouri district.

“We vehemently condemn this treacherous behavior, which is inconsistent with the declared commitment to the 72-hour truce,” the RSF stated in a statement.

CHINOOKS
Plans to restore civilian authority in Sudan were crushed when fighting broke out suddenly. It also put an already destitute nation in danger of a humanitarian catastrophe and raised the possibility of a larger battle involving external powers.

After been imprisoned in their houses or neighborhoods for days while they were being bombarded and had combatants running through the streets, many Khartoum residents may feel the need to evacuate in a panic if the violence ever eases.

Foreign nationals and diplomats have likewise had difficulty escaping.

MH-47 Chinook helicopters were among the aircraft used by special forces, according to American authorities, as they swept into Sudan’s capital on Saturday from a base in Djibouti. They spent about one hour on the ground to evacuate less than 100 individuals.

Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the Joint Staff’s director of operations, said, “We did not take any small-arms fire on the way in and were able to get in and out without issue.”

According to Chris Maier, an assistant secretary of defense, the U.S. military may employ drone or satellite photography to identify dangers to Americans traveling through Sudan on overland routes or may place naval forces at the Port of Sudan to support Americans who are already there.

Some Americans and other nations, according to Under Secretary of State for Management John Bass, have successfully made the trek by land from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which he described as being difficult given the shortage of food, gasoline, and reliably available water.

From Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 kilometers (400 miles) from Khartoum, Saudi Arabia has already evacuated Gulf nationals. The same journey will be taken by citizens of Jordan.

In order to prepare for their departure, Egypt, which has over 10,000 people living in Sudan, asked its citizens to travel to two consular offices: one in Port Sudan and one in Wadi Halfa, which is close to the Egyptian border. It advised Khartoum residents to remain indoors as they awaited an improvement in the situation.

In addition to Khartoum, reports of the deadliest violence have come from Darfur, a western region bordering Chad, where a conflict that began in 2003 has claimed 300,000 lives and left 2.7 million displaced.

Daphne Psaledakis and Phil Stewart in Washington, Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum, Ahmed Elimam and Hatem Maher in Cairo, and Aidan Lewis in writing and editing.