Sudan evacuations speed up during fighting lull

European nations, China, and others scrambled to evacuate thousands of their residents from Khartoum on Monday during a break in combat between the army and a paramilitary force.

The April 15 military-RSF violence caused a humanitarian disaster and killed 420 people.

Last week, thousands of diplomats, humanitarian workers, students, and their families were besieged in a war zone with millions of Sudanese without essential services and confined in their houses.

Fighter jets have bombarded the capital, the main airport has been fighting ground, and artillery barrages have rendered passage in and out of Africa’s largest city unsafe. Five aid workers have been slain and diplomats attacked.

Despite international pressure, the two sides have not observed a brief truce.

Over the weekend, fighting calmed enough for the US to evacuate diplomatic workers by military helicopter, prompting other countries to evacuate.

One evacuation convoy carrying Qatari embassy workers and another carrying French citizens, one of whom was injured, were attacked.

France and Germany evacuated 700 people on Monday, without specifying their nationalities. Evacuees arrived in Berlin by German air force jet early Monday.

In Khartoum, Spanish diplomats and people are evacuated by military plane and vehicles.

[1/5] In Khartoum, Sudan, on April 23, 2023, a Spanish military plane and cars evacuate diplomatic staff and people. Spanish Defence Ministry Handout/REUTERS

Several countries flew people out of Khartoum on military planes from Djibouti, while others drove them to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 800 km (500 miles) away. Some sailed to Saudi Arabia from there.

Indonesia reported that about 500 residents had been evacuated to the port and were awaiting transit to Jeddah across the Red Sea.

China, Denmark, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden also evacuated nationals, while Japan prepared to send a Djibouti evacuation team.

A diplomatic source reported a 65-vehicle convoy of 700 international UN, NGO, and embassy personnel and their relatives evacuated from Khartoum to Port Sudan on Sunday.

The source said international personnel from Darfur, where fighting has increased, are being evacuated to Chad and South Sudan.

Sudan’s war has closed most hospitals and cut water and electricity. The World Food Programme, which feeds 25% of the country’s population, has suspended operations in the country after three relief workers were killed.

Four years after ousting longtime despot Omar al-Bashir, the army and RSF attempted a coup in 2021 but fell out amid negotiations to form a civilian government.

Their rivalry has elevated the potential of a larger conflict involving international powers.

According to a Monday U.N. statement, people have left clashes in Darfur’s three states, Blue Nile State on the Ethiopia-South Sudan border, and North Kordofan State southwest of Khartoum.