Western and other nations escalate plans to evacuate diplomats from Sudan

All US government personnel were evacuated from Washington’s embassy in Khartoum, as well as a small number of diplomatic personnel from other countries, US officials said on Saturday.

The operation evacuated fewer than 100 people, officials said, as fighting rocks Sudan.

France said it was evacuating diplomats on Sunday,

The UK’s diplomatic staff and their dependants were also evacuated from Khartoum, but UK nationals still living in Sudan remained in the country.

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[ ‘A recipe for conflict’: the rival generals behind Sudan’s power struggle ]

With UK citizens still trapped by the fighting in Khartoum, the news that diplomats have been prioritised is likely to cause deep concern, but James Cleverly, the UK foreign secretary, insisted the top priority remained the safety of British nationals.

Battles between two rival Sudanese commanders entered their ninth day on Sunday, forcing the continued closing of the main international airport and leaving roads out of the country in control of armed men.

With a series of ceasefires failing to hold, the death toll has now passed 420, including 264 civilians, and more than 3,700 have been wounded, according to local and international NGOs. However, most analysts believe the true total of fatalities and injuries in more than nine days of fighting is much higher.

Each side has accused the other of not respecting the truce.

The evacuation operation conducted on Saturday involved more than 100 US special operations forces and began at 3pm local time when US aircraft, including three MH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, took off from a US base in Djibouti, stopped in Ethiopia to refuel, then flew the last three hours to Khartoum.

US forces spent just an hour on the ground in Sudan before taking off again, entering and exiting Sudan without being fired upon by the warring factions on the ground, the military said.

In a statement thanking the troops, US president Joe Biden said he is receiving regular reports from his team on efforts to assist remaining Americans in Sudan “to the extent possible”. He also called for the end to the “unconscionable” violence.

“The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan,” Mr Biden said in a statement.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says it is “working closely” with the EU and other partners on contingency planning for a range of possible scenarios up to and including an evacuation of Irish citizens in Sudan.

A spokesman for the department said more than 100 Irish citizens in Sudan had registered with the relevant Irish embassy and every effort was being made to maintain regular contact.

On Saturday, the Sudanese army said it was co-ordinating efforts to take diplomats from the UK, the US, China and France out of the country on military planes, as fighting persists in the capital including at its main airport.

However, Seán Fleming, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, described reports of evacuations of foreign citizens as being “premature” arising out of safety concerns at airports.

“We are talking to our international colleagues, particularly France and the UK. There are reports of evacuations happening and I think that’s premature, the airports aren’t safe to go in and out of, so it’s important that the full facts of the situation are taken into consideration.”

Live TV feeds showed thick smoke still hanging more than the capital, Khartoum, and its sister cities of Bahri and Ombdurman, as gunfire continued to ring out in some areas, a Reuters reporter said.

The fighting erupted in Khartoum and other parts of the country on April 15th, four years after long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir was toppled during a popular uprising, and has killed more than 400 people.

It pits Sudan’s army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who jointly staged a coup in 2021 but fell out during negotiations more than a plan to form a civilian government and integrate the RSF into the armed forces.

The army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have failed to observe ceasefires agreed almost daily, including a three-day truce for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which began on Friday.

Intense fighting has continued around the army’s headquarters in central Khartoum and the airport, which has been closed by the clashes, and more than the past two days in Bahri, where the army has used troops on the ground as well as air strikes to try to push back the RSF. – Additional reporting: Reuters