US evacuates embassy staff as Sudan fighting rages

KABUL (Pajhwok): The US military evacuated American diplomats from Sudan, a week after embassy staff became stuck in the capital Khartoum as violence raged between rival military factions.

The mission, ordered by President Joe Biden, saw special operations forces positioned 800 miles (1,288 kilometers) away in Djibouti bring the Americans out on MH-47 Chinook helicopters. Fewer than 100 people were evacuated, officials said late Saturday, and there were no plans to retrieve other US citizens in Sudan.

United States embassy staff and their families have been evacuated by US forces from Sudan’s war-torn capital Khartoum, President Joe Biden said, as fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered a second week with hundreds killed and thousands injured.

The US embassy staff were airlifted to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia, two US officials familiar with the mission told the Associated Press news agency. The evacuation order was believed to apply to about 70 US nationals.

With the departure of embassy staff, Washington has closed the US mission in Khartoum indefinitely, and the White House has said it has no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of the estimated 16,000 private US citizens registered with the embassy as being in Sudan.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a tweet that the US would “continue to assist Americans in planning for their own safety” in Sudan, and press for a ceasefire to “prevent further damage to the Sudanese nation”.

More than 150 people from various nations reached the safety of Saudi Arabia on Saturday in the first announced evacuation of civilians from Sudan.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry announced the “safe arrival” on Saturday of 91 of its citizens, along with nationals from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada and Burkina Faso.

Foreign nations have said they are preparing for the potential evacuation of thousands more of their nationals, even though Sudan’s main airport remains closed.

The ongoing fighting has left hundreds dead and thousands wounded while people are coping to survive with shortages of electricity and food.

The army, under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the rival RSF, headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have so far failed to observe ceasefires agreed upon almost daily since hostilities broke out on April 15.

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