Emergency evacuation humanitarian groups leave Sudan as conflict intensifies

The United States says its special forces have helped evacuate its embassy in Khartoum, but other countries appear to be running into problems, amid a humanitarian crisis triggered by continued fighting between rival factions.

Reuters reported on Sunday that U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States was temporarily suspending operations at its embassy in Khartoum, but remained committed to the safety of the Sudanese people and called on both sides to cease fire.

“The warring parties must immediately implement an unconditional cease-fire, allow unfettered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the Sudanese people,” Biden said in a statement.

U.S. officials say the special forces, using military aircraft including MH-47 heavy transport helicopters, took off Saturday from a U.S. base in Djibouti and stormed into embattled Khartoum, staying on the ground for just an hour and evacuating nearly 100 people.

“We did not encounter any small fire as we entered and were able to enter and exit without problems,” said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II, director of operations for the Joint Staff.

Christopher Maier, assistant secretary of defense for Special Forces operations and low-intensity conflict, said the U.S. military could use drones or satellite imagery to detect threats to Americans evacuated from Sudan by land, or deploy warships in Port Sudan to help Americans arriving there.

Fighting broke out April 15 in Khartoum and several surrounding cities, four years after longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in an uprising.

The U.S. military evacuated embassy personnel from Sudan on Sunday in an operation ordered by President Joe Biden that U.S. officials said evacuated nearly 100 people. Separately, the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said all British diplomatic staff had been evacuated. Belgium, the Netherlands and France are working together on “rapid evacuation operations” to help evacuate their citizens.

European Union diplomatic representative Josep Borrell discussed the situation in Sudan with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud by telephone on Sunday. “We are all very concerned about the military escalation,” Borrell wrote on Twitter, adding that they had “agreed to continue to work together for an immediate ceasefire.”

Pope Francis of the Catholic Church called for an end to the violence in Sudan during his Sunday prayer, saying: “Unfortunately, the situation in Sudan remains grave. That is why I once again call for the violence to cease as soon as possible and for dialogue to resume. I invite you to pray for our Sudanese brothers and sisters.

The Sudanese army said on Saturday that its commander-in-chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan had spoken to leaders of several countries who asked for the safe evacuation of their citizens and diplomats. With most of Sudan’s main airports now battlefields, the evacuation from Khartoum, the capital, is risky.

Sudan’s military spokesman said in a statement earlier that the United States, Britain, France and China would leave Khartoum on military transport planes “in the coming hours.” Burhan “agreed to provide the necessary support to ensure the evacuation of countries.”

Burhan’s Sudanese government forces and their deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hmeti, led the Rapid Support Force (RSF) in heavy fighting around Khartoum, including in residential areas. Efforts have been made to evacuate people, some of whom are already short of food and basic supplies.

After a military coup in 2021, Sudan was ruled by a so-called Transitional Sovereignty Council headed by Burhan, with Hemeti as deputy chairman. The current dispute was sparked by negotiations to reform the security sector. According to media reports, one of the points of contention was the integration of paramilitary forces into the regular army, but the two sides failed to negotiate.

A Sudanese army spokesman said a Saudi Arabian delegation had been evacuated from the eastern city of Port Sudan and a Jordanian delegation would be flown out later.

According to the German Defense Ministry, the Bundeswehr is preparing for another attempt to evacuate German citizens. An attempt to evacuate about 150 German citizens by German air force planes was aborted on Wednesday due to ongoing fighting, Spiegel Online reported. A German foreign ministry spokesman said the number of German citizens requesting evacuation was “in the low three figures”. The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) alone has 119 staff in Sudan, 103 of them from Germany.

The crisis response team of the Federal Foreign Ministry met on Saturday to discuss the situation in Sudan. The meeting was co-chaired by Federal Foreign Minister Berbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, according to a German Foreign Ministry spokesman. Neither the foreign nor defence ministry spokesmen disclosed any information about the possible imminent evacuation of German citizens from Sudan.

Since Saturday, Sudanese government forces have battled for power with the once-allied paramilitary Rapid Support Force. Khartoum airport has been at the heart of the fighting since the outbreak of the conflict.

Explosions and gunfire rang out in Khartoum on Saturday despite the two sides agreeing on Friday to a ceasefire during the three-day Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr. Two previous cease-fire attempts earlier this week also quickly failed.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 400 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured after civil unrest broke out in Sudan. “People need to realize that the war has been going on since the first day and has not stopped,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Sudanese Doctors’ Federation.

The international airport, close to the centre of the capital, came under heavy shelling as rapid support forces tried to take control. In an effort to repel the RSF, the Sudanese government bombed the airport with air strikes, destroying at least one runway and leaving wreckage behind. The extent of the damage to the airport was not immediately clear.