Americans evacuated from Sudan embassy as airport closes and roads are blocked off amid fighting

The US military has evacuated US diplomats and their families from Sudan.

The operation, which involved six aircraft, was conducted in coordination with the RSF, it said.

Separately, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US military had successfully evacuated US embassy personnel. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other foreigners began evacuating from a Red Sea port in Sudan on Saturday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement: “Today, under the direction of the President, the US military conducted a successful operation to safely evacuate US government personnel from Sudan.”

“This action, led by the US Africa Command and conducted in close cooperation with the US State Department, demonstrates the Department of Defense’s support for our country’s diplomatic personnel,” he added.

“I am proud of our exceptional service personnel who conducted and supported this operation with outstanding precision and professionalism. We also thank our allies and partners, including Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, who were critical to the success of this operation.”

The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers of people in the Sudanese capital, rendering the airport useless and some roads impassable.

The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to observe ceasefires that have been mostly ignored and open safe passage for fleeing civilians and the delivery of much-needed aid.

With the airport closed and the air unsafe, thousands of foreigners – including embassy staff, aid workers and students in Khartoum and elsewhere in Africa’s third-largest country – have also been unable to escape.

Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 400 miles from Khartoum. Jordan will use the same route for its nationals.

Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, although the Sudanese military has said airports in Khartoum and Nyala, Darfur’s largest city, are problematic and it was not clear when that would be possible.

A foreign diplomat who requested not to be identified said some diplomatic staff in Khartoum hoped to be evacuated by air from Port Sudan in the next two days. The US embassy warned the Americans that it could not assist convoys from Khartoum to Port Sudan and that travel would be at your own risk.

Separately, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US military had successfully evacuated US embassy personnel. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Smoke rises from buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan

The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, has so far failed to abide by the ceasefire that has been in place since the outbreak of hostilities on April 15 have been agreed almost daily.

Saturday’s fighting violated what was intended to be a three-day ceasefire from Friday to allow civilians to get to safety and visit relatives during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Both sides accused each other of not respecting the ceasefire.

“I have no problem with the ceasefire,” Hemedti told Al Arabiya TV late on Saturday. “They (the military) didn’t respect it. If they respect it, so will we.’

Any interruption to the fighting could precipitate a desperate attempt to escape by many Khartoum residents after days of being trapped in homes or neighborhoods bombarded and with fighters roaming the streets.

Residents of Khartoum and the neighboring towns of Omdurman and Bahri reported airstrikes near the state broadcaster and battles in several areas, including near army headquarters.

A resident of Bahri said there had been no water or electricity for a week and air raids were frequent. “We are waiting for the big fight. We’re terrified of what’s to come,” she said, later reporting, “It’s begun.”

Another resident, Muhammad Siddiq, from Bahri’s Shambat district, said: “We experienced hours of terror today, when there were clashes and gunfire between the army and RSF nearby, and bullets everywhere.”

TV feeds showed a huge cloud of black smoke rising from Khartoum airport.

Sudanese army soldiers loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan sit atop a tank in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on April 20

A view of the area when fire broke out after a house was hit in the Lamab district during clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) pleaded for safe passage. “We need gateways where we can bring specialized trauma personnel and medical supplies,” said Abdalla Hussein, MSF operations manager.

The Sudanese doctors’ union said more than two-thirds of hospitals in conflict zones were out of order, with 32 of them forcibly evacuated by soldiers or caught in crossfire.

Beyond Khartoum, reports of the worst violence come from Darfur, a western region that suffered from a conflict that escalated from 2003, killing 300,000 and displacing 2.7 million.

A UN update on Saturday said looters seized at least 10 World Food Program vehicles and six other food trucks after taking over the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala, South Darfur.

Sudan’s sudden collapse into warfare thwarted plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster and threatened a wider conflict that could attract outside powers, four years after the overthrow of the long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising.

There’s no sign yet that either side can pull off a quick victory or be ready to talk. The Army has Air Forces, but the RSF is widely entrenched in urban areas.

Burhan said on Saturday that “we all need to sit down as Sudanese and find the right way out to give hope and life back,” his most conciliatory remarks since the fighting began.

Earlier in the clashes, he declared the RSF a rebel force, ordered it to disband and said a military solution was the only option. Hemedti said on Saturday that he could not negotiate with Burhan.

Since Bashir’s overthrow and following a 2021 coup, Burhan and Hemedti held the top positions in a ruling council that was intended to devolve to a civilian government and include the RSF in the military.

The World Health Organization reported on Friday that 413 people had been killed and 3,551 injured since the outbreak of fighting. The death toll includes at least five aid workers in a country dependent on food aid.