Many countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan’s capital as fierce fighting continues to rage in Khartoum.
The fierce conflict in Sudan erupted on April 16, 2023, as an infighting between the country’s two Generals.
The Generals of the Sudanese Army, led by Abdel Fattah Burhan and a group known as Rapid Support Forces, RSF, led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have been locked in a crisis that may spiral into a full blown civil war if the raging fighting continued unabated.
The country’s capital, Khartoum witnessed escalating fighting, shattering the residents’ peace and festivities during the Eid – El – Fitr, and forcing many countries to start retrieving their diplomats and nationals from Sudan to safety.
A French national was reportedly shot on Sunday when gunmen opened fire on a French convoy during its evacuation.
The US and UK announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country.
France, Germany, Italy and Spain have also been evacuating diplomats and other nationals.
A vicious power struggle between the regular army and a powerful paramilitary force has led to violence across Sudan for more than a week.
US authorities said they had airlifted fewer than 100 people with three Chinook helicopters on Sunday morning in a “fast and clean” operation.
The US embassy in Khartoum is now closed, and a tweet on its official feed says it is not safe enough for the government to evacuate private US citizens.
The UK government managed to airlift British diplomats and their families out of the country in what was described as a “complex and rapid” operation. Foreign Minister James Cleverly said options to evacuate the remaining British nationals in Sudan were “severely limited”.
Several other countries were conducting evacuation operations on Sunday:
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that a plane had arrived in Djibouti carrying French citizens and others on Sunday, while another evacuation took place on Monday, taking the number of people evacuated so far to 388, its government said.
A handful of Dutch citizens left Khartoum on the French plane, while another with people from the Netherlands on board left early on Monday morning
Germany’s army said the first of three planes had left Sudan, bound for Jordan, with 101 people on board
Italy and Spain have evacuated citizens – the Spanish mission included citizens from Argentina, Colombia, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Mexico, Venezuela and Sudan
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had evacuated its diplomatic staff.
Turkey – a key player in Sudan – began evacuation efforts by road from the southern city of Wad Medani on Sunday, but plans from one site in Khartoum were postponed after a nearby “explosion”
Other countries successfully evacuated people on Saturday. More than 150 people, mostly citizens of Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, Pakistan and Canada were evacuated by sea to the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah.
On Sunday, long lines of United Nations vehicles and buses were seen leaving Khartoum heading east towards Port Sudan on the Red Sea, carrying “citizens from all over the world”, a Sierra Leonean evacuee told AFP news agency.
There have been desperate calls for help from many foreign students – from Africa, Asia and the Middle East – who are also stuck in Khartoum, a city of some six million people.
A Nigerian student association in Sudan called on its government to conduct an “immediate rescue mission”, saying many students had chosen to flee.
Meanwhile, internet monitoring group NetBlocks said Sudan was in the midst of an “internet blackout”, with connectivity at 2% of ordinary levels, which could seriously hinder the coordination of help for those trapped in Khartoum and other cities.
The power struggle has seen heavy bombardment in the capital city, with hundreds killed and thousands more injured.
The near-constant shooting and bombing in Khartoum and elsewhere has cut electricity and safe access to food and water for much of the population.
Several ceasefires that had seemingly been agreed by both sides were ignored, including a three-day pause to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which started on Friday.
On Sunday, the US announced a disaster response team would be sent to the area to “coordinate the humanitarian response for those in need both within and outside of Sudan.”
Samantha Power from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the team would work out of Kenya at first, and prioritise getting “life-saving humanitarian assistance to those who need it most.”
The World Health Organization says the fighting has killed more than 400 people and injured thousands. But the death toll is believed to be much higher as people are struggling to get healthcare, as most of the city’s hospitals have been forced to close by the fighting.
Along with Khartoum, the western region of Darfur, where the RSF first emerged, has also been badly affected by the fighting.
The UN has warned that up to 20,000 people – mostly women and children – have fled Sudan to seek safety in Chad, across the border from Darfur.
Meanwhile, The Daily Crucible reports that the Federal Government of Nigeria had said it was waiting for the Sudanese Government to give assurance of safety before evacuating Nigerian Students from Sudan.
Over 4000 Nigerians have been stranded in the fierce conflicts – torn Sudan.
According to psmnigeria.com, a Nigerian student identified as Sofia Idris Sefiu, in a viral video, narrated that the situation was getting worse.
She said: “We fled from Khartoum because my sister was sick and there were no hospitals. We came to the border. On our way, we saw a lot of Sudanese fleeing Khartoum. What of us Nigerian students?
“By 10:00 pm at night, we reached the border of Ethiopia and Sudan in Gallabat. We slept there and yesterday (Saturday), we entered the border.
“Sudanese border immigration said they were going to stamp the exit stamp for us and then, the Ethiopian border said they were not going to let us pass unless we have visas to enter Ethiopia and we didn’t have it.
“The Nigerian embassy in Sudan is really trying its best. We talked to them. They sent a letter for us, but the people at the border said they were not going to let us in, unless with a visa.
“They sent us back to Gadarif, another location near the border. We went to the consulate for a visa. They said they were not going to stamp the visa for us; they were only stamping for the Sudanese. Right now we are stranded at Gadarif.”
Sefiu said the Seriki Hausawa of Gadarif, Memataba Haruna, provided them with accommodation as hotels are not available.
“He took us in like his children; he fed us. He gave us a place to sleep, a very peaceful place.
“Right now, today (yesterday) is our third day. We have applied for an online visa. They said it is not going to come out anytime soon because of the Eid holiday. So, we are basically stranded at the border,” she said.
But in an interview, the Nigerian Government told Channels Television on Sunday through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, that its responsibility is to ensure that it has the full backing of the Government of Sudan before evacuation to avoid risking the lives of Nigerians.
He said the Federal Government doesn’t want to evacuate Nigerian citizens in an unsafe situation.
Onyeama said the Government was trying to get the authorization of the Government so that it can evacuate Nigerians via a safe corridor.
The Minister said the situation with the Government is challenging because the number of Nigerians in Sudan is over 5,000.
“I don’t think we are sluggish; the countries evacuated yesterday and a day before, no government had evacuated before then. The reason is that it is not as if there was a military war against another country.
“The President and the Vice President of a country started shouting at each other. Of Course, it started getting worse and that is why countries started looking at evacuating their people. The advantage these people have, the US, Italy, and France, have is that they don’t have 5,000 citizens in Sudan like Nigeria.
“Tomorrow, we could start hiring cars and buses to start moving our people out, but this would put their lives at risk. And no responsible government will do that.
“What we need at the moment, which one or two countries have done, is for the Sudanese Government to assure us that we can drive and convey our citizens to the borders of our choice. The Egyptian border or to port Sudan; the Ethiopian border is not an option because I understand the road is unsafe. So once we go there, we are ready to go.
“We are in touch with the embassy and they are in touch with a large number of Nigerian students, but we don’t want to take that risk; because tomorrow, if we give the green light and there is an ambush, we will be responsible for that. The responsible thing to do is to ensure we have the full backing of the Government of Sudan,” he stated.
Additional report from BBC
