The US has completely withdrawn its diplomats.
(Photo: AP)
Khartoum, Washington In view of the heavy fighting in Sudan, the USA has withdrawn its government employees from the country and closed the US embassy in the capital Khartoum.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.
Some diplomats from other countries were also on board during the evacuation operation on Saturday. 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.
US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously confirmed the evacuation of the embassy. Washington temporarily suspended the work of the US embassy as fighting continued in Sudan, the president said. He called on the warring parties to call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, and also urged them not to obstruct humanitarian aid and to respect the will of the Sudanese people.
About 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.
Western states have been working on evacuations for days
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.
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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 country. Foreign diplomats kept trying to establish a stable ceasefire for the evacuation. On Saturday, General Al-Burhan approved the evacuation of diplomats and other citizens.
Germany is working on evacuation options
The US government had previously made it very clear that Americans who were not in Sudan as diplomats or embassy staff could not expect to be taken out of the country. US citizens have been strongly advised not to travel to Sudan for a long time, the statement said.
The US media recently reported that several thousand Americans could still be in Sudan. There was no official information on this.
Citizens of Saudi Arabia and people of other nationalities are greeted by Saudi Royal Navy officials after being evacuated from Sudan by Saudi Navy ship.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Some countries had already started evacuating their own nationals and other foreigners on Saturday, including via a Sudanese port on the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia said it was taking Saudis and people of other nationalities out of the country through Port Sudan, 400 miles from Khartoum. Jordan said it had started evacuating. The Japanese broadcaster TBS reported that United Nations staff, including Japanese, should be evacuated from Sudan on Sunday.
Germany is preparing several options for an evacuation, as Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Friday. A first attempt to take Germans out of the country with Luftwaffe aircraft was canceled on Wednesday because the security situation in the embattled capital was deemed too dangerous for such an operation.
The federal government’s crisis team meets daily
A crisis team meets daily in Berlin. A few days ago, the Bundeswehr made preparations for a new attempt to evacuate German citizens and other people to be protected.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) will discuss the situation in Sudan with staff at the Federal Foreign Office on Saturday.
(Photo: dpa)
Numerous people have already died in the heavy fighting between the army and the paramilitary militia RSF. Several agreed ceasefires were not observed. According to observers, the trigger for the fighting was a dispute over the details of the RSF’s incorporation into the military as part of the transition to a civilian government in Sudan.
The country is one of the poorest on earth. Millions of people depend on humanitarian aid.
More: Fighting in the third largest country in Africa – Sudan is threatened with a new civil war