2023-04-24 06:47:00
The USA, Great Britain and several EU countries reported appropriate precautions on Sunday. As far as possible, nationals from other EU countries and other countries will also be taken along, for example from Germany. Austria does not have its own embassy in Sudan.
The representation in Egypt is responsible for the north-east African country. According to information from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, around 45 Austrians are currently in Sudan, most of whom are Austrians living abroad and their relatives.
So far, the German Bundeswehr has flown 311 people out of Khartoum. They were taken to Jordan, from where an onward journey was organized, the Bundeswehr said. A first Airbus A321 with evacuees landed in Berlin at 6:15 a.m. on Monday. The Foreign Office in Berlin announced that 101 Germans, their families and members of other partner countries were on board the plane. “Further evacuation flights are planned as long as the security situation permits.” Spain also flew its own civilians and diplomats as well as people of other nationalities out of Sudan on Sunday.
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US evacuates diplomats from Sudan and closes embassy
The British government announced on Sunday that it had evacuated diplomatic staff and family members. “I salute the dedication of our diplomats and the bravery of military personnel who carried out this difficult operation,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wrote on Twitter. “We continue to pursue all avenues to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country.”
According to media reports, France flew out around 100 people. A first plane was on Sunday evening from Sudan’s capital Khartoum on its way to Djibouti, a second plane was also scheduled to take off in the evening, as reported by the French television stations franceinfo and BFMTV, referring to the Foreign Ministry. On board are not only French, but also people of other nationalities. Each plane can carry around 100 people. There are a total of around 250 French in Sudan, but not all of them want to be flown out, according to the Foreign Ministry.
“Very complex operation”
The Netherlands is also participating in the effort. A first group of Dutch people were flown out on a French plane on Sunday, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said, according to the ANP news agency. Hoekstra hopes that more Dutch people could make their way to Jordan during the evening and that Dutch planes could also be used. The minister spoke of a “very complex operation” that the Netherlands is carrying out together with the French and Germans.
As the Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday, two Dutch military aircraft have been ready for evacuations in Jordan since Wednesday evening. These are C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Dutch marines and a medical unit are also on standby in Jordan. Around 150 Dutch nationals, including staff at the now-closed embassy in Sudan, have volunteered to be evacuated.
Greece deployed special military units and planes to Egypt for an evacuation mission in embattled Sudan. This was announced on Sunday by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on state television. Egypt agreed to the action. This mission should be coordinated with other countries and international organizations, it said.
Italian civilians and diplomats were also flown out of Khartoum. “All Italians who asked to leave Sudan are safe and on the plane to Djibouti,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on Twitter late Sunday evening. Tajani had previously announced the evacuation of around 200 civilians and embassy staff. About 140 of them are people with Italian nationality, some Swiss, employees of the apostolic nunciature – i.e. the Vatican Embassy – and around 20 other European citizens.
Norway also evacuated its diplomatic representatives. The three Norwegian diplomats are now safe, including Ambassador Endre Stiansen, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday evening in Oslo. The situation on site is so critical that this was necessary. The Norwegian embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum is now temporarily closed. Work is being done to support the approximately 80 registered Norwegian citizens in the embattled country in cooperation with other European countries when they leave the country.
US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had confirmed the evacuation of the US embassy. Washington temporarily suspended the work of the US embassy as fighting continued in Sudan, the president said. Blinken again urged the parties to the conflict to permanently cease hostilities.
A Saudi Arabian group was evacuated from the eastern city of Port Sudan on Saturday. A Jordanian delegation was also to be flown out of Port Sudan. There are almost 850 kilometers between Khartoum and Port Sudan. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Turkish citizens should be taken to safety overland via a third country.
According to the Saudi television channel Al-Arabiya, five Saudi ships also brought more than 150 people from Sudan to Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Foreign Ministry, diplomats and citizens from Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, Canada, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan, Burkina Faso and the Philippines were on board the ships.
All US personnel had already been flown out during the weekend evacuation of the US embassy in Khartoum. Some diplomats from other countries were also on board, officials of the US government said. In total, it was less than a hundred people. A significant number of local workers remained in Sudan. A U.S. military said it flew in and out of Sudan without incident. A representative of the US State Department added that the situation in Sudan is not expected to change in the near future.
Killed at least 413 people so far
A week ago, fighting broke out in Sudan between the country’s two most powerful generals and their units. Both had led the country of around 46 million people since a joint military coup in 2021. Now de facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the supreme commander of the army, is fighting with the military against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Actually, Daglo’s group should have been subordinate to the army and power in the country should have been returned to a civilian government. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 413 people have died and more than 3,500 have been injured since the fighting began. The actual number of victims is probably much higher.
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