Fighting in Sudan: About 15 Swiss have left the country since Monday

Thanks to the help of countries that are friends with Switzerland, about fifteen Swiss people have been able to leave Sudan since Monday. The Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs (EDA) announced this on request on Wednesday.

These people could have left the country in particular with flights organized by Germany and the Netherlands, according to a spokesperson. The FDFA continues its efforts in favor of Swiss people who want to leave the country. Sudan has been fighting fiercely for more than ten days between the army and paramilitary groups.

On Tuesday, the FDFA announced that it was looking for solutions for some 30 Swiss-Sudanese dual citizens who nevertheless wanted to leave the country. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Sudanese need an exit permit to leave the country.

Convicted ex-autocrat Al-Bashir in hospital

Sudan’s longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) under an arrest warrant, is said to be in a military hospital, according to the military. With this, the Sudanese army put an end to the guesswork about al-Bashir’s whereabouts on Wednesday. The 79-year-old is being treated at a military hospital in Khartoum and under police surveillance, a statement on the army’s Facebook page said. Initially, the message from the military could not be independently verified.

On Tuesday, there was conflicting information about Al-Bashir’s whereabouts. Al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan authoritarianly for 30 years, was effectively imprisoned in Khartoum’s Kobar Prison after his conviction. According to media reports, prison police released the inmates over the weekend because they were unable to provide them with basic necessities.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been seeking Al-Bashir’s arrest since 2009 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the conflict in Darfur. For years, there has been violence between the government and minorities of African descent in the west of the country. Al-Bashir has been convicted of corruption in Sudan and is on trial for a coup early in his tenure in 1989.

The transfer of al-Bashir to a military hospital came amid a power struggle between the army and paramilitaries in the Horn of Africa country. De facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, also commander-in-chief of the army, wants to use the army to oust his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo. He is the leader of the influential paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two generals had taken over the leadership of the country of about 46 million inhabitants through two joint military coups in 2019 and 2021.

In Khartoum, the situation of the people is getting worse. The aid organization SOS Children’s Villages announced on Wednesday that its branch in the capital was attacked by gunmen. The children and young people who were taken care of, as well as the employees, had to be evacuated.

A total of 68 children and 19 employees were housed in rental apartments in other districts of Khartoum. However, the situation remains tense, said Ahmed Mihaimeed, a member of the aid agency’s crisis management team. “Many people spent days on the ground and did not even dare to raise their heads when the uncontrolled shelling broke out,” he said.

United States National Security Council communications director John Kirby confirmed the death of another American citizen in Sudan on Wednesday. “We can confirm that a second US citizen passed away yesterday,” Kirby said Wednesday. He gave no details.

At least 460 people were killed and nearly 4,100 injured in the fighting, which began on April 15, according to information from the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the actual number is probably considerably higher. (sda/dpa)