Foreign countries scramble to evacuate citizens as Sudan battles intensify

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

Foreign countries yesterday rushed to evacuate their nationals from battle-torn Sudan where deadly fighting raged into a second week between forces loyal to two rival generals.

As gunfire again echoed through Khartoum and fighter jets roared above, foreigners also fled the capital in a long United Nations convoy, while millions of frightened residents hunkered down inside their homes, many running low on water and food.

Across the city of five million, army and paramilitary troops have fought ferocious street battles since April 15, leaving behind charred tanks, gutted buildings and shops that have been looted and torched.

More than 420 people have been killed and thousands wounded, according to UN figures, amid fears of wider turmoil and a humanitarian disaster in one of the world’s poorest nations.

US special forces launched a rescue mission early yesterday for around 100 embassy staff and their relatives, swooping in with Chinook helicopters to fly them to a military base in Djibouti.

US President Joe Biden condemned the violence, saying it is “unconscionable and it must stop”. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said UK forces had also evacuated diplomats and their families “amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff”.

Germany and France, meanwhile, announced yesterday that they had begun evacuating their nationals and those from other countries. A French plane carrying around 100 people of multiple nationalities “landed in Djibouti”, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, with a second flight of another 100 people expected to leave Sunday evening.

Long convoys of UN vehicles and buses were seen leaving Khartoum heading east to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 850 kilometres (530 miles) away by road, carrying “citizens from all over the world”, according to one Sierra Leonean evacuee.

Taking advantage of a recent brief lull in fighting, residents of Khartoum rushed to organise buses out – mainly north to Egypt – sharing drivers’ numbers, safe routes, and advice on visa restrictions on social media.