Western countries evacuate their citizens from Sudan, where internal conflict continues
Several countries are making efforts to evacuate their citizens from Sudan, where internal conflict between two armed factions has intensified in the past ten days, DPA and Agerpres reported on Monday.
US and British diplomats have left Sudan, while countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and France began evacuating their first groups of citizens from Khartoum on Sunday.
Intense clashes have been taking place in Sudan for ten days between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who has been Sudan's de facto leader since the October 2021 coup, and those of Rapid Support Forces leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 420 people have been killed and more than 3,700 injured since 15 April.
The food and water situation for the population of Khartoum has worsened dramatically.
On Sunday, the US State Department confirmed that the US has completed the evacuation of approximately 100 people, including the entire staff of the US embassy in Khartoum.
The Foreign Ministry in Paris announced Monday morning that France had evacuated about 400 people - French nationals and foreigners - from Sudan, with several flights from Khartoum to Djibouti starting Sunday.
"These flights allowed the evacuation of 388 people, including French citizens who wished to do so and a significant number of citizens of other countries, mainly European (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), but also African (South Africa, Burundi, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda), American (USA, Canada) and Asian (Philippines, India, Japan)," a French diplomatic statement said.
Spain has evacuated its citizens and diplomats from Sudan, as well as citizens of other European countries and some Latin American countries, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced.
Italian diplomatic chief Antonio Tajani said all his countrymen who had asked to leave Sudan had left safely by plane for Djibouti.
The foreign ministry in Oslo said the Norwegian diplomats had been brought safely into the country.
The European Union is also evacuating its delegation from Khartoum, but EU ambassador Aidan O'Hara, who was attacked earlier last week in his apartment in Khartoum, will continue to work from Sudan.
Two Airbus military jets have flown more than 200 German citizens evacuated from Sudan to Berlin. A third German military plane arrived in Khartoum on Sunday evening. In total more than 300 German citizens on a crisis list are to be evacuated from the African country.
Seven EU countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and the Czech Republic) have representations in the Sudanese capital.
