conflicts
US evacuates diplomats from Sudan, closes embassy
Smoke billows over Khartoum after an attack. photo
© Abdullah Moneim/Abdullah Moneim/AP/dpa
Foreign governments have been preparing to evacuate their citizens for days. The US diplomats stationed in the country are now all 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In view of the heavy fighting in Sudan, the USA has withdrawn its government employees from the country and closed the US embassy in the capital Khartoum.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.
Evacuation of American civilians not guaranteed
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 north-east African country. The US government had previously made it clear that Americans who were not in Sudan as diplomats or embassy staff could not expect to be taken out of the country.
About a week ago, fighting broke out in Sudan between the country’s two most powerful generals and their units. De facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the Army Commander-in-Chief, is fighting with the military against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).