conflicts
US evacuates diplomats from Sudan and closes embassy
Smoke billows over Khartoum after an attack. photo
© Abdullah Moneim/Abdullah Moneim/AP/dpa
The situation in Sudan is chaotic. Heavy fighting at Khartoum airport has so far prevented the evacuation of foreigners. Now the USA is getting its diplomats and their family members out of the country.
In view of the heavy fighting in Sudan, the USA has withdrawn its government employees from the country and closed the US embassy in the capital Khartoum. All US diplomats and their families were successfully brought to safety, the White House and the US State Department said on Sunday night.
US President Joe Biden called on the warring factions for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. He also urged them not to obstruct humanitarian aid and to respect the will of the Sudanese people.
Battle between two generals
About a week ago, fighting broke out in Sudan between the country’s two most powerful generals and their units. Both had led the country of around 46 million people since a joint military coup in 2021. Now de facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the supreme commander of the army, is fighting with the military against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Actually, Daglo’s group should have been subordinate to the army and power in the country should have been returned to a civilian government.
For days, the US military had been preparing with other Western countries for the evacuation of their own citizens. Additional armed forces were transferred to countries neighboring Sudan. Heavy fighting in and around the embattled airport in Khartoum had so far prevented foreigners from being flown out of the country. On Saturday, General Al-Burhan approved the evacuation of diplomats and other citizens.
Urgent travel warning for US citizens
The US government had previously made it very clear that Americans who were not in Sudan as diplomats or embassy staff could not expect to be taken out of the country. US citizens have been strongly advised not to travel to Sudan for a long time, the statement said. The US media recently reported that several thousand Americans could still be in Sudan. There was no official information on this.
The airport in Khartoum has been at the center of hostilities in recent days. Foreign diplomats kept trying to establish a stable ceasefire for the evacuation. A first attempt to take Germans out of the country with Luftwaffe aircraft was canceled on Wednesday because the security situation in the embattled capital was deemed too dangerous for such an operation. A crisis team meets daily in Berlin. A few days ago, the Bundeswehr made preparations for a new attempt to evacuate German citizens and other people to be protected.