Top US, Sudanese generals speak as US weighs embassy evacuation

World
By William

The Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley has discussed the safety of US citizens in Sudan in a telephone conversation with Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as Washington considers the possible evacuation of its embassy amid of fighting in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and other parts of the country.

“The two leaders discussed the security of the Americans and the developing situation in Sudan,” Milley’s office said in a statement Friday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said on Friday that the US military is preparing options to evacuate the US embassy in Sudan amid the fighting that has left hundreds dead, mainly in Khartoum and the west of the country.

“We have deployed a number of troops in theater to make sure we provide as many options as possible when called upon to do something. And we haven’t been called upon to do anything yet,” Austin told a press conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

“No decision has been made on anything yet,” he said.

Two US officials said a decision on a possible evacuation of the embassy is expected soon, but it was unclear whether a public announcement will be forthcoming.

Fighting in Khartoum continued on Friday despite the Sudanese military saying it had signed a three-day truce with rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to allow people to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The RSF said earlier in the day it had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire to mark Eid.

Fighting had subsided in some parts of the city by Friday evening, witnesses reported, according to the French news agency AFP.

Khartoum-based journalist and analyst Mohamed Alamin Ahmed told Al Jazeera there had been a lull in the conflict on Friday night, but it did not amount to a ceasefire.

“We can’t say that the ceasefire has been 100 percent implemented here because the two sides are actually making a lot of moves to reposition themselves,” he said, adding that sporadic gunfire could still be heard from different parts of the city.

“The situation fluctuates. We cannot say that this ceasefire is well executed, but the situation is a bit positive.”

Evacuation

With Khartoum airport mired in combat and the air unsafe, countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain and the US have been unable to evacuate embassy staff.

A Western diplomat said the evacuation situation in Sudan is one of the most difficult they have seen, with the US likely focused on reaching a ceasefire and using that to get personnel out.

“In this case, the civil war starts in the capital, the fighting is right where the embassies are and where the airport is. It is unusually difficult,” the diplomat told Reuters news agency.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said US President Joe Biden this week approved a plan to bring US troops nearby in case they are needed to help evacuate US diplomats, without having to say where. Reuters previously reported their repositioning to Djibouti.

“We’re just positioning some extra capabilities nearby in case they’re needed,” Kirby told reporters.

Washington has said private US citizens in Sudan should have no expectation of a US government-coordinated evacuation. Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department, said authorities have been in contact with several hundred US citizens believed to be in Sudan.

Earlier on Friday, the State Department confirmed the death of a US citizen in the country.

Other countries and the United Nations are also looking at how to evacuate citizens and employees.

The UN has been trying to move personnel out of “highly dangerous” zones in Sudan to move them to safer locations, Abdou Dieng, the top UN aid official in Sudan, said Thursday. Dieng said he was moved to a safer area on Wednesday.

The UN has approximately 4,000 employees in Sudan, of which 800 are international employees.

Switzerland said on Friday it was exploring ways to evacuate nationals from Sudan and Sweden said it will evacuate embassy staff and families as soon as possible. Spanish military aircraft are on standby and ready to evacuate some 60 Spanish nationals and others from Khartoum, while South Korea has sent a military aircraft to a US military base in Djibouti to evacuate its nationals if possible. evacuate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said 413 people have been killed and 3,551 injured so far in the fighting in Sudan, though the true death toll is believed to be higher, with many injured unable to reach hospitals.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged “immediate and unfettered humanitarian access”, saying it was a “legal obligation under international humanitarian law”.

Analysts have warned that the conflict could affect countries across the region, with up to 20,000 people already fleeing to neighboring Chad, according to the UN.

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