France has begun a "
rapid evacuation operation
" of its nationals and diplomatic personnel from Sudan, where the heavy fighting has entered its second week, the Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday April 23.
European nationals and those coming from “
allied partner countries
” are also taken care of, indicates the ministry, without further details.
This Saturday evening, US President Joe Biden announced the evacuation of diplomatic staff from the US Embassy in Khartoum.
"
Today, on my orders, the US military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel
," President Biden said in a statement, also calling for a "
stop " to the "
senseless
"
violence.
.
He particularly thanked, according to the press release, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia for their support in this operation.
An “unacceptable risk” for American personnel
The head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken for his part indicated that this decision to evacuate the American personnel had been taken because of the “
unacceptable risk
” posed to the personnel of the embassy.
It was not specified how these personnel were evacuated but American media reported the use of military planes and helicopters.
No details were given on the number of Americans evacuated either, but it would concern at least 70 people, according to an American official speaking in recent days on condition of anonymity.
Read alsoIn Sudan, civilians trapped by the fighting refuse to take sides
Earlier, the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan had announced that they had "
coordinated
" with the United States to evacuate their embassy in Khartoum.
This evacuation operation, prepared since the beginning of the week, concerns only government personnel and not American nationals in Sudan, who would be several hundred.
The United States had dispatched troops to Djibouti, a small stable country in the Horn of Africa some 1,126 kilometers southeast of Khartoum, at the end of the week, to facilitate the evacuation of staff from its embassy.
Violent fighting has pitted the Sudanese army against RSF paramilitaries in Khartoum for a week.
Anthony Blinken has multiplied diplomatic exchanges in recent days, notably discussing Thursday with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and his rival Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, known as “
Hemedti
”, as well as with the African Union.