President Joe Biden has announced that American diplomats and their families have been evacuated from Khartoum. A U.S. official described the operation as “fast and clean.”
Three Chinook helicopters landed outside the US embassy early on Sunday morning to evacuate a group of less than a hundred people, according to reports.
French officials said they will be evacuating their citizens as well as those of other European Union and ally countries.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an opposition paramilitary group, and the Sudanese regular army both claim that the evacuation convoy was fired upon after leaving the French embassy, forcing them to turn back. They both felt responsible for the violence.
Authorities in France refused to confirm or deny an attack when questioned by the BBC, but they did confirm that the French military stationed in Djibouti is involved in the operation and that the goal is to bring the evacuees to Djibouti.
The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Japan have all reported that they have started evacuation procedures.
Reports indicate that Internet access across Sudan has nearly vanished, which might make it much more difficult to coordinate aid for people still stuck in Khartoum and other towns.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured as a result of the massive bombing of the capital city during the power struggle between the regular army of Sudan and the paramilitary RSF.
Embassy airlift in the United States
“Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum,” Biden stated.
Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims told reporters after the mission that more over a hundred US Navy Seals and Army Special Forces personnel flew from Djibouti to Ethiopia and then into Sudan, where they spent less than an hour on the ground.
There was no formal ceasefire declared, but it appears that the RSF paramilitary group decided not to fire on the American helicopters.
As Biden put it, “critical to the success of our operation” were the countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia. He also demanded an immediate end to the fighting in Sudan.
The US embassy in Khartoum has closed, and a tweet from its official account has stated that American citizens cannot be evacuated due to safety concerns.
Since violence broke out in Sudan’s capital last week, this was the second time that foreign nationals had to be evacuated.
More than 150 passengers, primarily from the Gulf states but also Egypt, Pakistan, and Canada, were evacuated to the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah on Saturday.
The UK has indicated that it is contemplating personnel evacuation options. British citizens in Sudan are being advised to report their whereabouts to the Foreign Office and to call a designated hotline in the event of an emergency.
As opposed to the widespread exodus from Afghanistan in 2021, any potential British evacuation is projected to be small in scale and focused on diplomatic personnel.
Canadians are urged to “shelter in a safe place,” maintain full battery on their phones, lock all doors and windows, and “consider leaving the country if there is a safe means to do so” in the event of unrest in Sudan.
Many international students from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East who are also trapped in Khartoum have made urgent appeals for assistance.
As a result of the incessant bombing and gunfire, many people in Khartoum and the surrounding areas no longer have access to reliable sources of food and water.
The Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fitr began on Friday, but several ceasefires that seemed to have been agreed upon by both sides were disregarded.
More than 400 people have been killed and thousands injured, according to the World Health Organisation. People are having a hard time getting to hospitals, so the actual death toll is likely considerably higher.
Saturday’s emergency government Cobra conference, led by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, assessed the situation in Sudan, and more meetings are scheduled for Sunday.
James Cleverly, the British foreign secretary, has abruptly ended his trip to the Pacific.
Some British citizens stuck in Sudan have expressed worry and displeasure about the lack of an airlift.
Iman Abu Garga, a British tourist in Khartoum, said she and her two children had registered as required, “and since then — nothing.”
We have no notion what to expect as far as timelines go. The final form is unknown to us at this time. Will we be evacuated from Khartoum International Airport via helicopter? Do we have to take the road? “There’s no human interaction at all, and that’s so frustrating,” she cried out.
The western area of Darfur, where the RSF first originated, has been hit hard by the conflict together with Khartoum.
The United Nations has issued a warning that as many as 20,000 people, largely women and children, have crossed into Chad from Sudan’s Darfur region in search of safety.
