The US and the UK are among the countries that evacuated diplomats and civilians from the Sudanese capital on Sunday.
The armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom have evacuated embassy personnel from Sudan, while other countries scramble to get their citizens to safety as rival military factions battle in the capital, Khartoum.
The outbreak of fighting eight days ago between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has sparked a humanitarian crisis, killing 420 people and leaving millions of Sudanese without access to basic services.
As people tried to flee the chaos, countries began landing planes and organizing convoys in Khartoum to withdraw their nationals.
“British forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan amid a significant escalation of violence and threats to embassy staff,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Twitter on Sunday.
US officials said special forces with aircraft including MH-47 Chinook helicopters raided Sudan’s war-torn capital from a US base in Djibouti on Saturday, spending just an hour on the ground to bring out less than 100 people .
“We didn’t fire small arms on the way in and were able to get in and out without any problems,” said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the Army’s Joint Staff director of operations.
Chris Maier, an assistant defense secretary, said the US military could use drone or satellite imagery to detect threats to Americans traveling over land routes from Sudan, or place naval assets in Port Sudan to assist Americans arriving there .
The warring sides accused each other of attacking a French convoy, both saying a Frenchman had been injured.
France’s foreign ministry, which had previously said it would evacuate diplomatic personnel and civilians, declined to comment.
Paris said a French plane with about 100 people on board, including the European Union delegation in Khartoum, along with other nationalities, had left for Djibouti, and a second plane with a similar number on board was due to take off shortly.
Iraq said one of its citizens was killed in clashes and Egypt said one of its diplomats was injured.
Abandoned
The efforts to bring back foreign residents frustrated some Sudanese who felt the rival factions were less concerned about the safety of the local population.
“When I saw the foreigners leave, I got upset, because I see there are some groups that were helped by the army and the RSF, while we keep getting hit,” said Alsadig Alfatih, who died on Sunday for the first time since the outbreak of fighting managed to leave his home. and said he was going to Egypt.
Germany said it had landed a military plane in Khartoum but said the operation would take some time, while Italy said it would release some nationals later on Sunday. Ghana, India and Libya also said they were working to get their people home.
The Russian ambassador to Sudan, Andrey Chernovol, told Al Jazeera that almost all Russian citizens in Khartoum have been transferred to the Russian embassy building.
However, he said it was not clear at this time whether air evacuations would be possible due to fighting at the airport.
“We are exploring all possible ways to evacuate Russians,” the ambassador added.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described multiple deadly attacks on health facilities.
“Paramedics, frontline nurses and doctors often have no access to the injured and the injured cannot reach the facilities,” he tweeted.
The WHO on Sunday retweeted a message from the Sudanese health ministry saying at least 420 people have been killed and 3,700 injured in the fighting so far.
Pope Francis called for an end to the violence during his Sunday afternoon prayer in Rome.
Fighting erupted in Khartoum, along with neighboring twin cities Omdurman and Bahri, and other parts of the country on April 15, four years after long-ruling leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted in a popular uprising.
The military and RSF jointly staged a coup in 2021, but recently fell apart during negotiations over a plan to form a civilian government and integrate the RSF into the armed forces.