Countries rush to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan

[April 25, 2023]  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The conflict between Sudan's army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered a rush to extract foreign diplomats and citizens.

Several countries have evacuated nationals by air, while some have gone via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, about 800 km (500 miles) by road from Khartoum.

This is the status of some countries' efforts:

GERMANY

As of Tuesday morning, a German evacuation mission had brought a total of 500 people from more than 30 countries to safety, including Belgian, British, Dutch, Jordanian and U.S. citizens as well as Germans.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said efforts were under way to get the remaining Germans out, but did not say how many were left.

FRANCE

France has evacuated more than 500 people from Sudan, comprising more than 200 French citizens as well as Americans, Britons and others, President Emmanuel Macron told his government. He said a French commando had been wounded in crossfire during the evacuation, but was in stable condition.

Paris has also sent a warship to Port Sudan to help pick up evacuees, two diplomatic sources said.

ITALY

Italian military planes flying from Djibouti evacuated 83 Italians and 13 others overnight, including children and the Italian ambassador.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said some Italian NGO workers and missionaries had decided to stay in Sudan, while 19 others had been taken to Egypt two days ago.

BRITAIN

Britain said it would begin a "large-scale" evacuation of its nationals on Tuesday, with priority given to families with children, the elderly and the infirm. Foreign minister James Cleverly said Britain was working closely with its international partners.

The government estimates there are about 4,000 Britons in Sudan. It evacuated its diplomats and their families on Saturday.

NETHERLANDS

About 100 Dutch nationals have been evacuated from Sudan since Sunday, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said.

Half left on four Dutch evacuation flights to Jordan, which also carried about 70 people from 14 other countries.

The Netherlands aims to evacuate a total of around 150 Dutch nationals, and has supplied two military planes to the international effort, which are also available for other nationalities.

An aircraft from the French Air Force, which picked up evacuees of different nationalities from Sudan, arrives in Djibouti, according to French President Emmanuel Macron's official Twitter account, in this undated handout image released on April 23, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron via Twitter/Handout via REUTERS

UNITED STATES

U.S. forces evacuated American and some foreign diplomats on Saturday.

Washington said on Monday that several dozen Americans were travelling overland in a U.N.-led convoy to Port Sudan, and that dozens more had expressed an interest in leaving. It said it was positioning naval assets to assist evacuations if necessary.

RUSSIA

Russia has not yet announced any evacuation of its embassy or its nationals from Khartoum. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russians in Sudan were in close contact with Moscow: "Cooperation and consultations are going on round the clock, and various possibilities are being examined. For now, no decision has been taken."

JAPAN

All Japanese people who wished to leave have been evacuated, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

Forty-five left on Monday night on a Japanese military flight, and eight others left with the help of France and other groups, he said.

CYPRUS

Cyprus said on Tuesday it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism to let third countries use its facilities to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan.

CHINA

Most Chinese nationals have been safely evacuated in groups to neighbouring countries, China's foreign ministry said.

UKRAINE

Ukraine said it had rescued 87 of its citizens - most of them pilots, aircraft technicians and their families - among a total of 138 civilians, who also included citizens of Georgia and Peru.

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa said it expected the last 12 of its nationals known to be in Sudan to have left on Tuesday.

(Compiled by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Nick Macfie, William Maclean)

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