The deadly fighting between the regular army and the paramilitaries entered the second week on Saturday. But the two camps say they are ready to facilitate the evacuation of foreigners. More than 150 civilians, of various nationalities, were able to leave the country.
First major evacuation led by Saudi Arabia
This is the first large-scale evacuation. It was led Saturday by Saudi Arabia. It concerns both Saudis and nationals of 12 other countries, including Kuwait, Qatar, the Emirates, Egypt, Burkina Faso and even India and Pakistan.
The evacuees were transported in a convoy of vehicles to Port Sudan. Then crossed the Red Sea on board Saudi ships. On Saturday, five boats arrived in Jeddah, a port city in Saudi Arabia. A total of 91 Saudi citizens and 66 nationals of “brother countries” were evacuated. ” Diplomats and international civil servants “, said the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Images from a Saudi television channel also show women and children displaying the green Saudi flag aboard one of these ships. A crew of a Saudi airliner who had been hit by gunfire at the start of the conflict is also among the evacuees, reports our correspondent in the Gulf region, Nicolas Keraudren.
London is drawing up plans to evacuate its citizens
The Sudanese army says that four countries are also preparing to evacuate their diplomats and nationals with their own military planes: the United States, France, China and the United Kingdom, where the government claims to do ” All [son] possible “, while British citizens, trapped by the fighting, say they have been abandoned by the authorities. Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell acknowledges a “ extremely worrying situation for British nationals trapped by the fighting “. He assures that the authorities are “ are currently preparing for several eventualities “.
In two days, Rishi Sunak attended three emergency meetings. The Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs are drawing up plans to evacuate their nationals by air. Hundreds of Britons currently residing in Sudan, several thousand of whom have dual nationality, and dozens of embassy staff in Khartoum are awaiting instructions, recalls our correspondent in London, Marie Boeda.
Positioned at the border, British troops stand ready to help the displaced. The situation is worrying admits Downing Street, which has launched an emergency appeal to its citizens: they must all register on the embassy site. Some say they hid in basements, with supplies of food and water, waiting for them to be evacuated.
The United States evacuates its embassy
On Sunday night, the FSRs claimed in a tweet that they had “ coordinated with the United States the evacuation of American diplomats and their families aboard six planes on Sunday morning. An Arabic version of the FSR’s tweet indicated that the evacuation had already taken place, a report confirmed by the US government a few hours later. ” Today, on my orders, the US military conducted an extraction operation of US government personnel “said President Biden in a statement, calling also for an end to the violence” senseless “.
Germany, meanwhile, is still studying the feasibility of an evacuation. According to the German press, the country’s defense and foreign ministers held a crisis meeting on Saturday.
For the time being, the belligerents are showing themselves to be rather cooperative. The Sudanese army has pledged to provide aid and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) say they are ready to open all airports in Sudan to evacuate foreigners. It remains to be seen who controls which airport. Very difficult, at this stage, to have reliable information since the two camps are also engaged in a battle of communication.