While the deadly fighting between the regular army and paramilitaries has been raging for more than a week in Sudan, Paris began, on Sunday April 23 in the early morning, a “rapid evacuation operation” of its nationals and its diplomatic personnel, said announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nationals from Europe and from “allied partner countries” are also supported.
Sunday afternoon, a hundred French nationals and other nationalities had been evacuated, learned Agence France-Presse (AFP) from the ministries of foreign affairs and the French armies. “A first plane has already left Khartoum and should reach Djibouti around 6 p.m. [there is no time difference between Paris and Khartoum]” while a second is “already in the area and should take off at 5:30 p.m.”, with about a hundred people on board, these sources said. They underlined the “extreme complexity” of the operations, which could still last one or two days.
The two warring parties in the country, the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have “provided security guarantees” allowing this operation, a diplomatic source told AFP. Le Monde has learned that a Frenchman was injured on Sunday in circumstances that are still undetermined. In a statement posted on Twitter, the FSR claim to have been “attacked by planes during the evacuation of French nationals from the embassy of their country” and mention a French wounded on this occasion. Some 250 French nationals live in Sudan, a diplomatic source told AFP.
Germany has also started to evacuate its nationals, the ministries of defense and foreign affairs announced on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. “Our goal is to airlift as many [German] nationals as possible (…) given the dangerous situation in Sudan. Wherever possible, we will also take nationals from the EU and other countries,” they add. Germany had abandoned an evacuation attempt on Wednesday, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. Three military transport planes, which could have carried about 150 German citizens, headed for the country but had to turn back, he said.
Other countries have expressed the same intention. Turkey will thus “ensure the return” of some 600 Turkish nationals present in Sudan, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday. “Third-country nationals who have requested assistance have also been included in our plans,” he added. An operation, scheduled for 6 a.m. Sunday morning in northern Khartoum, was postponed “until further notice” due to an explosion on Sunday morning near a mosque designated as the gathering place, announced on Twitter the Turkish Embassy in Khartoum.
Italy is working on “a window of opportunity to leave Khartoum, which could happen” on Sunday, according to the foreign ministry, while its Dutch counterpart said on Sunday it was taking part in an international evacuation operation, stressing that his teams would do their best to evacuate citizens “quickly”.
Canada, for its part, announced on Sunday that it was temporarily suspending its diplomatic operations in Sudan, specifying that its personnel would work from a “safe location outside the country”, according to a tweet from Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. .
London and Washington evacuate diplomatic staff
The United Kingdom and the United States have, for their part, initiated the evacuation of their diplomatic personnel. “British Armed Forces have carried out a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid escalating violence and threats against embassy staff,” the official tweeted. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday afternoon. “We continue, by all means, to seek ways to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of those of British nationality who remain in the country,” he added.
On Saturday evening, United States President Joe Biden announced the evacuation of “US government personnel from Khartoum”, adding:
“This tragic violence in Sudan has already claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. This is insane and it must stop. »
US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said the decision was made because of the “unacceptable risk” posed to embassy staff. The operation resulted in the evacuation of “just under a hundred” people, including several foreign diplomats, John Bass, a senior State Department official, told reporters. Embassy operations are “temporarily suspended,” the State Department said.
The FSR paramilitaries claimed to have “coordinated” the evacuation with the United States, statements denied by John Bass, who refers to him as an operation “led only” by American special forces. Given the security situation, “we do not plan to coordinate at the government level an evacuation of the remaining citizens at this time,” said John Bass.
Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday the first major evacuation operation since the fighting began. More than 150 people, including diplomats and foreign officials, have arrived in Jeddah, according to Saudi Foreign Affairs. The evacuation was carried out by the kingdom’s naval forces with support from other branches of the military, the Saudi ministry said in a statement, announcing the “safe arrival” of 91 Saudis and 66 nationals from 12 other countries. “Diplomats and international officials” were among those rescued, according to the same source.
It is in this context that Pope Francis on Sunday called for “dialogue” in Sudan. “Unfortunately, the situation remains serious in Sudan, which is why I renew my call for the violence to cease as soon as possible and for the path of dialogue to be resumed,” he said during his traditional Sunday prayer in public. St. Peter’s Square, Rome.
The control of Sudanese airports in question
After a relative lull the previous night, fighting resumed on Saturday in Khartoum, largely without electricity and running water. The internet was virtually inoperative across the country, according to the NetBlocks organization, which monitors web access around the world. Strong explosions shook the capital during the day and exchanges of fire were heard in different neighborhoods, according to testimonies reported to AFP.
Violence erupted there on April 15 between the army of General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Al-Bourhane, the de facto ruler of Sudan since the 2021 putsch, and his deputy turned rival, General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, known as “Hemetti”, who commands the FSRs. On Friday, the army announced that it had “agreed to a three-day ceasefire” for Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Muslim fasting.
The UN, the United States and other countries had called for an end to the fighting. But, once again, the army and the FSR did not respect their commitments to pause to allow civilians to flee and foreign countries to repatriate their nationals.
General Daglo’s FSRs said they were “ready to open all airports in Sudan” to evacuate foreigners. General Bourhane said on Saturday that the regular army “controls all the airports except those in Khartoum and Nyala”, the capital of South Darfur. While the two sides are also engaged in a communication battle, it is impossible to know who controls the country’s airports, or in what state they are.
The two generals who took power in the 2021 coup are now engaged in a merciless struggle. They were unable to agree on the integration of General Daglo’s paramilitaries into General Bourhane’s regular troops, after weeks of political negotiations under international auspices.
In Sudan, Africa’s third largest gold producer and yet one of the poorest countries in the world, health services are devastated, and a third of the 45 million inhabitants suffer from hunger. The cessation of operations by most humanitarian workers, after the death of at least four of them over the past week, will worsen the situation. And the conflict now threatens to gain ground beyond Sudan’s borders, experts say.
