US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday night (early Sunday morning in Spain) that the United States has evacuated its government personnel from Khartoum and has temporarily suspended the operations of the Embassy in Sudan.
The situation has been complicated in the African country by the fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR).
The president pointed out in a statement released by the White House that Ethiopia, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia were "decisive" for this exit to be successful.
“We are temporarily suspending the operations of the United States Embassy in Sudan, but our commitment to the Sudanese and the future they want is endless,” Biden added in the note,
France has also begun the "rapid evacuation operation" of its citizens and Sudanese diplomatic staff, the French Foreign Ministry has announced.
The operation includes citizens of Europe and allied countries.
During that exit operation, this Sunday, a French citizen was injured in an attack against one of the evacuation convoys, as reported by an official on condition of anonymity to
The New York Times
.
The Sudanese army and opposition paramilitary militias have blamed each other for the attack.
For their part, Spain and South Korea already have planes and armored vehicles in Djibouti prepared to take citizens and personnel out of the country when the situation allows.
There are about 60 Spaniards trapped in Khartoum.
The small State of Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, some 1,300 kilometers from the Sudanese capital, has become the great logistics base for evacuation countries: among others, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Japan.
All the countries with a presence in the area are in contact through their General Staffs and a coordination team has been established on the ground.
Saudi citizens embarking in Port Sudan, evacuated from the African country due to the escalation of the confrontations.
SAUDI MINISTRY OF DEFENSE (via REUTERS)
Late on Saturday, Saudi Arabia claimed to have completed the evacuation having transferred 157 of its citizens, as well as some other nationalities.
Kuwait also announced that the departure of 300 people had begun, the Reuters agency reported.
Italy will try "as soon as possible", while Turkey will carry out the mobilization of its citizens "by road, to a third country", the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported in a statement.
A trip that "will last between 22 and 24 hours" and in which they can carry a maximum of eight kilos of luggage, which includes food and water for the journey.
Following the news of the US departure, the British government has stated that it will evacuate its diplomatic personnel from the country "as soon as possible", according to sources from the Executive branch, who have acknowledged that they have "few resources on the ground" ”.
Evacuations have also been announced by China, Turkey, as well as the Netherlands, their Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra has said.
“A multi-country operation to evacuate the citizens of Sudan is underway.
The Netherlands participates with a team from Jordan.
They will do everything possible to get the Dutch out of there as quickly and safely as possible," Hoekstra said in a message on Twitter.
Biden is being informed of the work done to help the Americans in Sudan.
“We are also working closely with our allies and partners in this effort,” he said.
“This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians.
It is inconceivable and must stop.
The warring parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unimpeded humanitarian access and respect the will of the people of Sudan”, he has called.
On Saturday, the United States Embassy in Khartoum reported that due to the insecurity situation in the capital and the closure of the international airport, it was not safe to carry out an evacuation, despite the fact that the Sudanese Army, shortly before, had announced that the North American country was going to proceed with the repatriation in a matter of hours.
Saturday afternoon,
Smoke clouds in Khartoum, on Saturday in the streets of the capital of Sudan.Marwan Ali (AP)
The fighting that began on the 15th between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitary group arose after weeks of tension over the reform of the security forces in the negotiations to form a new transitional government.
Both forces were the architects of the joint coup that overthrew the transitional government of Sudan in October 2021. The military coup ended the democratization of the country that began shortly after the dictator Omar al Bashir was overthrown, in 2019, after months of massive social protests.
Although the leader of the coup and head of the Army, Al Burhan, promised that he would appoint a technocratic Executive to run the country until new elections are called,
Since the outbreak of the conflict, according to the count offered on Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 413 people have died and 3,551 have been injured in Sudan.
The three-day truce proposed this week by the UN has not been respected.
Faced with the volatility, the Pentagon announced on Thursday that it was closely monitoring the situation in Sudan and had deployed troops to the region in case it was necessary to evacuate its personnel from the country;
an operation that was already underway and that finally concluded on Saturday.
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