White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday it is not safe to evacuate the remaining Americans from Sudan as two powerful rival military factions vie for control of the East African nation.
The United States evacuated US embassy staff on Sunday, but thousands of Americans remain and President Joe Biden’s administration ruled out any further evacuation.
“We are going to do everything we can to guide people, give them the information they need to get out safely. But it is currently not safe for another evacuation attempt. That would endanger Americans more, not less,” Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, told CBS Mornings.
He said the government “advises all Americans, those who have not heeded the warning, to get out and take shelter in place.” This is not the time to move around the city.’
“It is not safe now for another evacuation attempt. That would actually endanger Americans more, not less,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on CBS Mornings.
An estimated 16,000 private US citizens are registered with the US Embassy in Khartoum as being in Sudan. But officials dispute that number, warning it could be too high.
That number is an estimate. We don’t have much confidence in that number,” Kirby said on ABC’s Good Morning America. “I’d tell you most of them have dual citizenship. These are people who grew up in Sudan, work in Sudan, have families in Sudan and want to stay in Sudan.’
US Special Operations Forces flew in and out of Khartoum in helicopters early Sunday to evacuate embassy personnel. The MH-47 Chinook helicopters carried more than four dozen commandos from the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 and landed near the US Embassy.
A security cordon protected the plane and nearly 90 people boarded to be evacuated to Ethiopia, where they transferred to a plane that flew them to Camp Lemonnier, the US military base in Djibouti.
Other foreign governments – including Britain, Germany and France – have also evacuated their diplomatic personnel.
While the US said it was too dangerous to evacuate US citizens, other countries have removed both their citizens and their diplomats, including Italy, Germany and France.
Kirby noted that some US citizens were in a UN-led convoy bound for the Red Sea, which the US was monitoring.
“There are several dozen Americans making their way through Sudan in a UN-led convoy, a convoy over which the US has intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to ensure their safety. We still have military forces, pre-positioned in the region, ready to respond if necessary,” he said on GMA.
“But right now it’s not very safe to try to do a larger evacuation from the nearby air base or even as we did last night because the fighting is so intense. The safest thing Americans can do, those who decide to stay despite warnings to leave, is to shelter in place and not move too much.”
The United Nations convoy leaves Khartoum for Port Sudan on the Red Sea
A group of 343 citizens of Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and Germany evacuated from Sudan disembark military aircraft at Marka Military Airport, in Amman, Jordan
A soldier carries a child as evacuees from Sudan disembark from a plane at a military airfield in Amman, Jordan
That United Nations convoy travels from the capital Khartoum to Port Sudan. It is a 525 mile drive to the port on the Red Sea.
“The U.S. military is providing surveillance through unmanned means to monitor that convoy to make sure we can see what security issues they might face. Of course, we are looking at placing naval assets in the Red Sea near Port Sudan to assist with any evacuation or assistance that US citizens need,” Kirby said on CBS.
Foreign governments used various means to evacuate their citizens.
British and French diplomats were escorted to an airfield outside the city to depart on military cargo planes.
Saudi Arabia charted a boat to transport its diplomats across the Red Sea.
France brought nearly 400 people, including citizens from 28 countries, on four flights to the nearby country of Djibouti.
Germany has operated three flights from Sudan, bringing more than 300 people to Jordan.
Italy, Spain, Jordan and Greece also deported several hundred people in total, including their own citizens and those of other countries.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted that British forces have evacuated British diplomatic staff and family members.
But British Middle East Secretary Andrew Mitchell said about 2,000 British citizens still in Sudan have applied to the embassy for possible evacuation.
Smoke rises over Khartoum International Airport during the battle for control of Sudan
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (second from left) oversees the operation to evacuate US personnel from his embassy in Khartoum
Sudanese army soldiers loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan man a position in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan
More than 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and more than 3,700 injured in the fighting.
The power struggle is between the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
The rival generals came to power after a pro-democracy uprising led to the ouster of former leader Oma al-Bashir. In 2021, the generals joined forces to seize power through a coup.
But Burhan and Dagalo fell out over a recent international brokerage deal that was intended to bring the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.
It is not clear who controls the country.