The military evacuation operation from Sudan is ongoing. Since Sunday afternoon, the Bundeswehr has flown more than 400 German citizens and people from other countries in need of protection from the capital Khartoum with four rescue flights and brought some of them to Berlin via a stopover in Jordan. “The Bundeswehr has shown in an exemplary manner how cold-start capable it is, how quickly it can adapt to such a situation. Without any breakdown, without any problem,” said Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
The protection of German citizens in Sudan is the priority, said Pistorius. Accordingly, the operation will continue, until further notice in close coordination with Sudan and some partners. The Foreign Ministry is trying to get an overview of how many Germans are in the country. Originally there was talk of more than 300. Some of them could have left the country with French evacuation flights, others tried to get to safety overland. For example, a United Nations convoy is on its way to the port city of Port Sudan, including a double-digit number of German citizens, it said.
“We assume that other German citizens are on site,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, describing the security situation as continuing to be very difficult. The Bundeswehr said that every option would be used to get those in need of protection out. A spokesman for the Bundeswehr Operations Command also announced on Tuesday night that Germany had now taken over the coordination of evacuation flights from France. The aim is to regulate flight times and practical operations at the military airfield near Khartoum.
“We cannot afford for a populous country like Sudan to collapse.”
For more than a week now, two generals and their respective troops have been fighting fiercely for power in the country: on the one hand, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, whom everyone only calls Hemeti, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). On the other hand, army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan. The situation only calmed down a bit at the weekend after the Muslim fast-breaking festival after Ramadan, and a ceasefire – albeit fragile – offered the opportunity to carry out evacuation flights. Among other things, German military transporters of the type landed at a military airfield outside the capital A 400m.
According to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, more than 1,000 foreigners have been brought to safety since the beginning of the evacuation campaign. He thanks the countries that, with a joint effort, have brought their compatriots, but also other nationals, out of the country, said the Spaniard.
The ceasefire was supposed to expire on Monday evening. “We cannot afford for a populous country like Sudan to collapse because that would send shockwaves across Africa,” Borrell said. One has to assume that after the end of the ceasefire “the situation will be different,” warned Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. “It is more than uncertain whether the security situation will allow further evacuations in the next few days.” Later that evening, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new ceasefire. Blinken said in a written statement that after intensive negotiations, the parties to the conflict had agreed to a nationwide ceasefire for 72 hours from midnight.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese fled to neighboring countries at risk of their lives, the UN Emergency Relief Office (OCHA) said. “Civilians are fleeing the fighting-affected areas to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan, among other places.” Thousands of refugees gathered around the border with Ethiopia.
The Bundestag is to give its approval retrospectively to the evacuation operation for German nationals currently ongoing in Sudan. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said it was a mission to rescue people from particularly dangerous situations. He explained that a previous referral to the Bundestag would have endangered people’s lives. The Bundeswehr is deployed with around 1,000 soldiers – including paratroopers and soldiers from the Special Forces Command (KSK).