Which countries have evacuated nationals from Sudan?
Sudan’s sudden slide into a conflict between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries on April 15 left thousands of foreigners stranded, including diplomats and aid workers.
Several countries have launched operations to evacuate their diplomatic personnel and other nationals, and some efforts appear to be via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is immediately about 650 kilometers (400 mi) northeast of Khartoum, but about 800 kilometers (500 mi) miles) ) road by road.
Here’s the latest news on the evacuations:
United States
US special forces evacuated all US government personnel and their dependents, along with some diplomats from other countries, from the embassy using helicopters flying from a base in Djibouti and refueled in Ethiopia. They were not fired upon during the evacuation.
“Today, on my orders, the US military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum,” President Joe Biden said on Sunday.
He thanked the authorities in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia for helping with the evacuation mission.
The operation has evacuated fewer than 100 people, US officials told reporters. About 100 US troops in three MH-47 helicopters carried out the operation.
The embassy has suspended its activities due to security concerns, but local staff continue to support it.
Washington does not plan to coordinate an evacuation of other US citizens in Sudan, but is exploring options to help them leave.
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said all British diplomats had been evacuated from Sudan.
“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,” he wrote on Twitter.
“We continue to pursue every opportunity to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals who remain in the country.”
Sunak also called on both sides to “lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.
France
The French foreign ministry said it was evacuating its diplomats and citizens.
However, the warring army and the RSF each accused each other of attacking a French convoy. The army said the RSF fired on the convoy, wounding a French national.
The RSF said it had been attacked by aircraft during the evacuation, injuring a French national, and the convoy had returned to its starting point.
The French foreign ministry has not commented on the reported attack or injury.
Russia
Moscow’s ambassador to Khartoum told Russian state media that 140 of some 300 Russians in Sudan had said they wanted to leave.
Evacuation plans were made, but they were still impossible to implement because they had to cross the front lines, the ambassador said.
He added that about 15 people, including a woman and a child, were trapped in a Russian Orthodox church near fierce fighting in Khartoum.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it had evacuated 91 Saudi citizens from Port Sudan to Jeddah, along with 66 nationals from several other “friendly and fraternal countries”.
Kuwait
Kuwait said all citizens who wanted to return home had arrived in Jeddah.
Jordan
Jordan said it sent four military jets to evacuate about 260 nationals. On Saturday it said it was evacuating from Port Sudan.
Italy
Italy said its nationals would be taken from Sudan on Sunday evening, along with some people from Vatican City, Switzerland and other European countries.
Italy’s foreign minister said some 140 Italians will be evacuated from Sudan, plus about 60 people from other countries.
South Korea
South Korea said Friday it is sending a military plane to evacuate 25 civilians in Sudan.
Canada
Canada said it was suspending operations in Sudan and Canadian diplomats would temporarily work from a safe location outside the country, without commenting on evacuation efforts.
Belgium
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said on Twitter that her country is conducting operations alongside France and the Netherlands to evacuate European nationals “as soon as possible”.
Lahbib also called on people in Sudan who have not yet contacted their diplomatic services to do so quickly. “All our services are being mobilized to help them,” she said.
The Netherlands
A first group of Dutch people has been evacuated from Sudan, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Sunday.
Hoekstra said a “handful” of Dutchmen managed to leave Khartoum on a French plane, in what he said was “a very complex operation” carried out with the help of France, Germany and other countries.
The minister said he hoped a larger group could leave on Sunday evening using two military aircraft that the Netherlands sent to Jordan last week to aid in evacuation efforts.
In total, about 150 Dutch people have requested evacuation, the Dutch government reported in a letter to Parliament on Sunday.
Sweden
The Swedish government has agreed to send a unit of up to 400 armed soldiers to support evacuation efforts in Sudan.
The deployment will be coordinated with other countries and will evacuate other foreigners as well as Swedes trapped in the country.
Deployment details were unclear, but the government hinted that the unit could depart for Sudan within 24 hours.