2023-04-29 19:14:50
About 300 Americans made it to the city of Port Sudan as a result of the first evacuation that the United States carried out because of the armed clashes that began in Sudan on April 15. The evacuees were escorted by armed drones, AP reported.
Port Sudan is located on the Red Sea in the northeast of Sudan, the city has an international airport.
U.S. drones provided armed escorts to a convoy of buses carrying 200 to 300 Americans 800 kilometers to Port Sudan over several days, the AP reported, citing U.S. officials.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the convoy included US citizens, local residents working for the US, and citizens of allied countries. “We repeat our warning to Americans not to travel to Sudan,” he said.
On April 22, US Special Operations Forces flew briefly to the capital, Khartoum, to airlift US embassy staff and other US government personnel. Meanwhile, families of Americans stranded in Sudan have criticized the authorities for their unwillingness to evacuate some 16,000 citizens who want to leave.
President Joe Biden’s administration had previously warned that it had no plans to join other countries in evacuating ordinary Americans who wanted to leave, calling it too dangerous. There were no known US government officials on the ground in Sudan assisting the convoy.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on April 28 that fewer than 5,000 people contacted the department about leaving Sudan, and it was impossible to verify how many people were in the country and wanted to leave. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on April 24 that “dozens” of US citizens hoped to leave, and most of those who remained in Sudan held dual citizenship. “We have sent messages to every US citizen in Sudan who has been in contact with us during the crisis and provided specific instructions to join this convoy for those who were interested in going overland,” the State Department said in a statement.
Armed clashes in Sudan have been going on since mid-April between the paramilitary Rapid Reaction Forces and the regular army. As of today, April 29, as a result of the conflict, 528 civilians were killed and 4,599 were injured.
Read more about the development of the conflict in the publication “Kommersant” “Fear and risk in Sudan.”
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