All US embassy staff evacuated from war-torn Sudan — official
The US military evacuated American government personnel from Khartoum, President Joe Biden said on Saturday, adding that Washington is suspending operations at its embassy there as fighting between Sudan’s rival commanders continued.
“This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians,” Biden said.
“It ’ s unconscionable and it must stop.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that all US personnel and their dependents had been safely evacuated.
All US government personnel and a small number of diplomatic personnel from other countries were evacuated in the operation, US officials said.
Just more than 100 US special operations forces were involved in the evacuation, entering and exiting Sudan without being fired upon by the warring factions on the ground, they said.
Other foreign nationals began evacuating from a Red Sea port in Sudan on Saturday.
The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers in the Sudanese capital, disabling the airport and rendering some roads impassable.
The UN and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to honour declared ceasefires that have been ignored, and to open safe passage for fleeing civilians and the supply of badly needed aid.
Sudan ’ s collapse into warfare dashed plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster and threatened a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers, four years after the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar alBashir in a popular uprising.
With the airport closed and skies unsafe, thousands of foreigners — including embassy staff, aid workers and students in Khartoum and elsewhere in Africa’s third largest country — have also been unable to get out.
Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650km from Khartoum.
Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, though the Sudanese army has said airports in Khartoum and Darfur’s biggest city, Nyala, are problematic and it was not clear when that might be possible.
The army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rival RSF, headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have failed to observe ceasefires agreed almost daily since hostilities broke out on April 15.
Saturday ’ s fighting breached what was meant to be a three-day truce from Friday to allow citizens to reach safety and visit family during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Residents of Khartoum and the adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri reported air strikes near the state broadcaster and battles in several areas including near the army headquarters.
One Bahri resident said there had been no water or electricity for a week and frequent air strikes.
Beyond Khartoum, reports of the worst violence have come from Darfur, a western region that suffered a conflict which escalated from 2003 leaving 300,000 people dead and 2.7-million displaced.