As the Sudanese army and its paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), continue to engage in conflict in Khartoum, nations around the world are working to evacuate their citizens from the country. The fighting began suddenly on April 15 and has now entered its eighth day. The conflict has left thousands of foreign nationals, including aid workers and diplomats, stranded in Sudan.
According to the United Nations, over 420 people have been killed and thousands have been wounded. The two warring sides have agreed to help foreign nationals leave Sudan by road, air, and sea. While some countries are evacuating their citizens by air, others are doing so via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, an 850-kilometer drive from Khartoum. Here’s a breakdown of the evacuation efforts by country:
Saudi Arabia was the first country to successfully evacuate over 150 people on April 17. The evacuation was carried out by the kingdom’s naval forces, with assistance from other army units. The evacuees included 91 Saudi citizens and around 66 nationals from 12 other countries, including Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso. Kuwait has reported that all citizens wishing to return home have arrived in Jeddah. Qatar also thanked Saudi Arabia for helping evacuate Qatari citizens from Sudan.
The US military sent three Chinook helicopters, with over 100 troops, to evacuate the country’s embassy staff and their families from Khartoum. The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said they are suspending embassy operations in Sudan and will continue to assist Americans stuck as local staff remain to support it. Around thousands of Americans and dual nationals are thought to have remained in the country.
On Sunday, the UK PM, Rishi Sunak, said that the country’s armed forces have completed a ‘complex and rapid evacuation’ of British diplomats and their families from Sudan’amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff’. Turkey began its evacuation efforts on Sunday, taking at least some of its 600 nationals by road from two Khartoum districts. However, their plans from one site in the Sudanese capital were postponed after ‘explosions’ near a mosque, which was designated as an assembly point, according to the embassy.
India is keeping a close eye on the current situation in Sudan. Two Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft are currently on standby in Jeddah, while the navy’s INS Sumedha has reached Port Sudan in case a civilian rescue operation is ordered, said the Minister of External Affairs (MEA) in an update. The MEA added, ‘Apart from the Sudanese authorities, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Sudan are also in regular touch with the UN, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and US, among others.’
The European Union said it was ‘trying to coordinate an operation to get our civilians out of the city which is now in a high-risk situation.’ Seven nations among the 27 member countries of the bloc have missions in Sudan. France evacuated some 100 people after a ‘complicated’ rescue operation. The first plane with people of multiple nationalities left Khartoum on Sunday for Djibouti. Among those evacuated were also citizens of ‘European and allied partner’ nations. A second plane with a similar number was expected to leave on Sunday evening.
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