Sudan’s RSF says US diplomats, families evacuated from country
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Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces claim they coordinated the evacuation with US troops on Sunday.
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have reported that a US military mission consisting of six aircraft has evacuated US diplomats and their families from the country.
“The Rapid Support Forces Command coordinated with the US Forces Mission, consisting of 6 aircraft, to evacuate diplomats and their families on Sunday morning,” the RSF said in a tweet.
The RSF also pledged “full co-operation with all diplomatic missions, and to provide all necessary means of protection, and to ensure their safe return to their countries”.
The Reuters news agency also reported that the US military had successfully completed the evacuation of embassy personnel from Sudan, citing a source familiar with the operation. The source, who declined to be named, gave no further details about the operation.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters.
More than 150 people from several countries reached the safety of Saudi Arabia on Saturday during the first announced evacuation of civilians from Sudan, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries entered a second week after a brief pause.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry on Saturday announced the “safe arrival” of 91 of its citizens, along with nationals from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines , Canada and Burkina Faso .
Saudi naval forces transported the civilians, including diplomats and international officials, across the Red Sea from Port Sudan to Jeddah.
Foreign countries have said they are preparing for the possible evacuation of thousands more of their nationals, even as Sudan’s main airport remains closed. The ongoing fighting has left hundreds dead and thousands injured, while people survive with a shortage of electricity and food.
The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the rival RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, have so far broken the ceasefires that have been agreed almost daily since the outbreak of hostilities on April 15.
Matthew Majok, a student in Khartoum, told Al Jazeera the situation was dire, especially with lack of access to food and stray gunfire.
“We want to leave this country for safety. We have heard that the situation will get worse in the coming days. I don’t think we will survive this one, we want to get out,” he said.
Fighting on Saturday 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. “She [the army] didn’t respect it. If they respect it, so will we.”
The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to observe the ceasefire, open safe passage for civilians fleeing the fighting, and allow the delivery of much-needed food and medical aid .
Khaled Ahmed Idris, a director of the Omdurman Teaching Hospital in northern Khartoum, told Al Jazeera there was a serious shortage of medical staff, and those currently working were those who were in hospital when the fighting broke out. outbreaks last week. The hospital is operating at only 20 percent of capacity due to fighting preventing staff from reaching the facility, he said.
“There is no longer any way to move other medical personnel from their homes or areas to the hospital. The doctors and nurses who have been here since last Saturday are, of course, completely exhausted.”
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.