US evacuates diplomats from Sudan and closes embassy

In view of the fierce fighting in Sudan, the US has withdrawn its government personnel from the country and closed the US embassy in the capital Khartoum. All US diplomats and their families have been successfully brought to safety, the White House and the US State Department reported Sunday evening. US President Joe Biden called on the warring parties for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. He also called on them not to hinder humanitarian aid and to respect the will of the Sudanese people.

About a week ago fighting broke out in Sudan between the country’s two most powerful generals and their units. Both had led the country of about 46 million people since a joint military coup in 2021. Now de facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the army’s commander-in-chief, is fighting with the army against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, the leader of the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Actually, Daglo’s group should have been subordinated to the army and power in the country should have been returned to a civilian government.

For days, the US military had been preparing, along with other Western countries, for the evacuation of their own citizens. Additional forces were transferred to countries neighboring Sudan. Heavy fighting in and around the disputed airport in Khartoum had so far prevented foreigners from being flown out of the country. On Saturday, General Al-Burhan approved the evacuation of diplomats and other civilians.

The US government had previously made it very clear that Americans who were not in Sudan as diplomats or embassy staff could not expect to be deported. US citizens are strongly advised not to travel to Sudan for a long time, the statement said. The US media recently reported that there may still be several thousand Americans in Sudan. There was no official information about this.

Khartoum airport has been the center of hostilities in recent days. Foreign diplomats continued to try to broker a stable ceasefire for the evacuation. A first attempt to get Germans out of the country with Luftwaffe aircraft was called off on Wednesday because the security situation in the besieged capital was deemed too dangerous for such an operation. A crisis team meets daily in Berlin. A few days ago, the Bundeswehr made preparations for a new attempt to evacuate German citizens and other persons to be protected. (sda/dpa)