Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced this Friday in Zaragoza that Spain is participating in a new evacuation operation from Sudan within the European Union mission through the Spanish Navy frigate Reina Sofía.
The frigate, which was in the Indian Ocean integrated into Operation Atalanta, has moved to Port Sudan to carry out the rescue of 162 civilians of different nationalities -among which there are no Spaniards-, who are already heading to a safe area in Jeddah, as reported later by the Ministry of Defense.
The Saudi authorities, through their Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have lent their support to the Delegation of the European Union for the evacuation of Sudan. The mobilization of the Reina Sofía frigate responds to the request for support from the EU to its members for the extraction of their nationals from Sudan. To conduct the rescue operation, the MOPS Operations Center has been activated.
This is the second action of this type by the Spanish Armed Forces to evacuate personnel from Sudan. On April 24, 72 of the more than 100 citizens successfully evacuated arrived in Spain, by the nearly 200 soldiers from the Army and the Air and Space Army, involved in the evacuation operation. This Non-Combatant Personnel Rescue Operation (NEO) began on Friday, April 21, with the positioning of a first A400 aircraft at the Djibouti airport, to which an Airbus A330 and two other A400s were later added. .
The Minister of Defense has shown “the pride” that the European Union counts on the Spanish Armed Forces for this mission. The minister has also shown her desire that “everything goes well” because the situation in the African country is “very difficult, very complicated and very risky.”
Margarita Robles visited this Friday the 31st Wing and the Air Force Support Squadron based in Zaragoza to express her gratitude to the hundred soldiers who recently participated in the rescue of civilians at a military base near the capital of Sudan.
Likewise, during his visit to the Zaragoza Air Base, he announced the purchase of three A400M aircraft that could be included in Wing 31. In this way, the aircraft fleet of this detachment would grow from 14 to 17 aircraft.
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