KHARTOUM: Several foreign countries have launched evacuation operations to rescue their citizens and embassy staff from Sudan as heavy fighting continues in the country, particularly in the capital Khartoum.
The airport in Khartoum, which is under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has been the site of heavy fighting, prompting some evacuations from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is a 530-mile drive from Khartoum.
Saudi Arabia led the first successful evacuation operation, with naval operations picking up more than 150 people, including foreign diplomats and officials from Port Sudan on Saturday.
Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso nationals were among those rescued.
The US military also sent three Chinook helicopters to evacuate American embassy staff from Khartoum on Sunday. More than 100 US troops took part in the rescue of fewer than 100 people, with the choppers flying from Djibouti to Sudan to Ethiopia, where they stayed on the ground for less than an hour.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the evacuation was due to the “serious and growing security risks” amid fighting that has left hundreds dead and thousands wounded.
Evacuation operations from Sudan
France also conducted a successful evacuation operation, with around 100 people of multiple nationalities evacuated from Sudan on the first French flight out of the country.
A second flight of another 100 people was expected to leave on Sunday evening, heading to Djibouti.
The British army evacuated UK embassy staff and their families from Sudan, and Turkey began operations on Sunday, taking some of its estimated 600 nationals by road from two Khartoum districts and the southern city of Wad Madani.
Plans were postponed from one site in Khartoum after “explosions” near a mosque designated as the assembly area, the embassy said.
The European Union (EU), Germany, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia are among the countries preparing or conducting evacuation operations.
The Irish government is deploying 12 defence personnel to Djibouti to help evacuate 150 citizens in Sudan.
The fighting in Sudan has resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of wounded, with the main airport in Khartoum controlled by the RSF, which is battling the army. The situation remains unstable, with the United Nations calling for an end to the fighting and a return to dialogue to prevent further escalation.
