2023-04-23 04:21:36
DIn view of the heavy fighting in Sudan, the USA has withdrawn its government employees from the country and closed the US embassy in the capital Khartoum. All US diplomats and their families were successfully brought to safety, the White House and the US State Department said on Sunday night.
US President Joe Biden called on the warring factions for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. He also urged them not to obstruct humanitarian aid and to respect the will of the Sudanese people.
The RSF militia says it has coordinated with the US military to fly US embassy staff out of the northeast African country. As a result of this vote on Sunday morning, six US military aircraft took diplomats and their families out of the country, the militia said on Twitter.
For days, the US military had been preparing with other Western countries for the evacuation of their own citizens. Additional armed forces were transferred to countries neighboring Sudan. Heavy fighting in and around the embattled airport in Khartoum had so far prevented foreigners from being flown out of the north-east African country. The US government had previously made it clear that Americans who were not in Sudan as diplomats or embassy staff could not expect to be taken out of the country.
Earlier, Sudan’s de facto president and army commander-in-chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, agreed to the evacuation of citizens and diplomatic representatives from the embattled country. An army spokesman said in a statement Saturday that the United States, Britain, France and China would begin evacuating the capital Khartoum by military transport aircraft “in the coming hours.” Al-Burhan has therefore promised to “facilitate and guarantee” the evacuation and to provide the countries “with the necessary support to ensure this”.
A Saudi Arabian delegation has already been evacuated from the eastern city of Port Sudan, the spokesman said. A Jordanian delegation should also be flown out of Port Sudan later on Saturday.
Spain sends planes and special forces
According to media reports, Spain had sent two air force transport planes to evacuate its citizens and some other Europeans and Latin Americans from Sudan to Africa. One of the two A400M military transporters has already landed in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, the state TV station reported RTVE and other Spanish media on Friday. A third machine of the same type is ready in Spain. Each of the military aircraft can transport more than 100 people. There was initially no official confirmation.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares had previously said during a visit to Berlin that his country’s military planes would be held on hold to fly to the Sudanese capital Khartoum as soon as possible and begin evacuation as soon as the security situation permitted. When that could be the case cannot be said at the moment. Djibouti is about 1,200 kilometers southeast of Khartoum.
Plumes of smoke billow over the city of Khartoum on Friday
Which: via REUTERS
According to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the federal government is also preparing several options for an evacuation from Sudan. “The situation is absolutely dramatic and absolutely confusing,” said the Green politician on Friday in Berlin after a meeting of the crisis team at the Federal Foreign Office. The number of Germans who reported a desired evacuation is growing daily and is currently in the “lower three-digit range”.
The problem is now also the power outages, so that the evacuees can no longer charge their mobile phones and therefore may soon no longer be able to be informed in this way, said a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office. We are in contact with a number of governments.
Red Crescent reports looting in Khartoum
Fighting between the army and paramilitaries, which has been going on for a week, continued despite the announcement of a ceasefire. According to eyewitnesses, fighting broke out again on Saturday morning after the fighting subsided overnight. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 400 people have been killed and over 3,500 injured since the fighting began last Saturday. Two previously announced ceasefires had also been ignored by the conflicting parties.
Washington confirms death of American in Sudan
The US State Department has confirmed the death of an American citizen in Sudan. You are in contact with the family. The US government had previously announced that the US military was preparing to evacuate embassy workers.
The Eid al-Fitr sugar festival at the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan should actually be spent “with sweets and pastries, with happy children and people greeting their relatives,” resident Sami al-Nour told the AFP news agency on Saturday. Instead, there were “shots and the smell of blood all around us.”
The Sudanese Red Crescent has announced the looting of its warehouses in the capital Khartoum. Armed attackers stole eight off-road vehicles and a truck, the aid organization said on Friday. Because the vehicles are marked with the Red Crescent emblem, they could be used for “criminal or commercial” activities, it said.
Explosions near Doha International Hospital in Khartoum
Source: dpa/Uncredited
Fighting broke out in Sudan on Saturday between the country’s two most powerful generals and their units. 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 RSF. The two have led the country in northeast Africa with around 46 million inhabitants since a joint military coup in 2021. For years, power has been said to be handed over to a civilian government.
On Friday, the army agreed to a three-day ceasefire to allow for the Muslim fast-breaking festival after Ramadan. However, as news agencies reported unanimously, despite the agreed ceasefire, there were again violent exchanges of fire and isolated airstrikes in the capital Khartoum. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, at least 413 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in the fighting since last weekend.
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