Other Pages
- Opinion Poll
- About Us
- Send Your Story
- Contact Us
- Newsletter
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
Countries Scramble To Evacuate Citizens, Diplomats From War Torn Sudan
Battles raging in Sudan have sparked several evacuation operations to rescue foreign citizens or embassy staff by road, air and sea.
Heavy fighting has taken place at Khartoum's main airport, which is now under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighting the army.
A few people are being evacuated from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is located 850 kilometres (530 miles) away from Khartoum.
Here is a summary of what different countries were doing to transport stranded citizens to safety.
With naval operations picking up more than 150 people, including foreign diplomats and officials from Port Sudan on Saturday, Saudi Arabia took the lead in the first reported successful evacuation.
Riyadh declared the "safe arrival" of 66 citizens from 12 other nations, including Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Canada, along with 91 Saudi citizens.
The American embassy staff in Khartoum was evacuated by three Chinook helicopters sent by the US military on Sunday.
Less than 100 people were saved by more than 100 US troops, who flew helicopters from Djibouti to Sudan via Ethiopia and Sudan, where they landed in less than an hour.
It is estimated that a few thousand US citizens, including dual nationals, are still present.
A French foreign ministry official reported on Sunday that approximately 100 people of various nationalities had been flown out of Sudan on a first French flight, with a second flight carrying an additional 100 people scheduled to depart Sunday evening.
The British army has evacuated UK embassy staff and their families in a "complex and rapid" operation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.
At first light on Sunday, Ankara began transporting some of its 600 estimated citizens from two Khartoum districts and the southern city of Wad Madani by road.
However, after "explosions" close to a mosque designated as the assembly area, plans from one site in Khartoum were postponed, the embassy said.
According to the European Union, there have been "efforts to coordinate" evacuations. In Sudan, there are seven EU missions.
A "handful" of Dutch citizens were evacuated on a French plane, according to the foreign minister of the Netherlands, Wopke Hoekstra, while another group left Khartoum on foot in a UN convoy.
Following a failed attempt to transfer 150 Germans on Wednesday, the defence and foreign ministries tweeted on Sunday that Germany had started evacuating citizens.
"140 to 150" soldiers were mobilized, according to Sweden's defence minister, who told AFP on Sunday, to evacuate diplomats and other Swedish nationals.
Antonio Tajani, the foreign minister of Italy, said the military operation to evacuate "about 200 people" on Sunday would include Italians, Swiss, and Vatican officials.
The Greek foreign ministry said the first group of evacuees has "left Sudan with the assistance of France".
The Irish government is deploying 12 defence personnel to Djibouti to help evacuate 150 citizens in Sudan, a foreign ministry statement said.
The foreign ministry of Egypt previously stated that over 10,000 Egyptians reside in the neighbouring country; however, on Sunday it was reported that 436 citizens had been evacuated by land.
The ministry stated that a member of Cairo's diplomatic mission had previously been shot without providing any additional information. The military of Egypt removed 177 of its soldiers from Sudan on Wednesday.
Sinan Majali, a spokesman for the Jordanian foreign ministry, stated on Saturday that Amman had started the evacuation of about 300 Jordanians, adding that there was "continuous cooperation with the UAE and Saudi Arabia."
According to Ahmed al-Sahhaf, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, members of the Iraqi embassy left Khartoum on Saturday, and 14 citizens arrived in Port Sudan on Sunday. Without providing any additional information, Sahhaf told AFP on Sunday that an Iraqi had died in Khartoum "as a result of recent events."
Before their evacuation by sea, 60 citizens, according to Lebanon, had also left Khartoum by road.
On Friday, the Libyan embassy in Khartoum announced that 83 Libyans had been transported to Port Sudan after being evacuated from the capital.
After some citizens left the country aboard Saudi ships, the Tunisian embassy has announced an evacuation operation scheduled for Monday to remove citizens still inside the nation.
South Korea and Japan, two other foreign nations preparing evacuations, have sent troops to nearby nations.
According to a statement from the foreign ministry, India said it had two air force planes "on standby" in Saudi Arabia and a navy ship had arrived in Port Sudan, but any evacuations "would depend on the security situation".
According to reports, the Sudanese army is also coordinating efforts to remove diplomats from China.
According to Indonesia, 43 of its citizens were seeking refuge inside the Khartoum embassy complex.
0 Comment(s)