US embassy staff evacuated from war-torn Sudan, says RSF

KHARTOUM, April 22 (Reuters) – The US military has evacuated US diplomats and their families from Sudan, the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Sunday as fighting continued between rival commanders who have caused the death of hundreds of civilians.

The operation, which involved six planes, was carried out in coordination with RSF, it said.

Separately, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US military had successfully evacuated US embassy staff. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other foreign nationals began evacuating from a Red Sea port in Sudan on Saturday.

The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers of people in the Sudanese capital, disabling the airport and rendering some roads impassable.

The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to honor declared ceasefires that have largely been ignored, and to open safe passage for fleeing civilians and the provision of much-needed aid.

With the airport closed and the skies unsafe, thousands of foreigners, including embassy staff, aid workers and students in Khartoum and other parts of Africa’s third-largest country, have also been unable to leave.

Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 km (400 miles) from Khartoum. Jordan will use the same route for its nationals.

Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, although the Sudanese military has said airports in Khartoum and Darfur’s largest city, Nyala, are problematic and it was unclear when that might be possible.

A foreign diplomat who asked not to be named said that some of the diplomatic staff in Khartoum expected to be evacuated by air from Port Sudan in the next two days. The US Embassy warned the Americans that it could not assist convoys from Khartoum to Port Sudan and that the trips would be at their own risk.

The army, under the command of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedtithey have so far failed to abide by ceasefires agreed almost daily since hostilities broke out on April 15.

Fighting on Saturday broke what was supposed to be a three-day truce from Friday to allow citizens to go to safety and visit relatives during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Both sides accused the other of not respecting the truce.

“I have no problem with the ceasefire,” Hemedti told Al Arabiya TV on Saturday night. “They (the army) didn’t respect it. If they respect it, so do we.”

‘HOURS OF TERROR’

Any truce in the fighting could hasten a desperate race to flee for many Khartoum residents, after days trapped in houses or districts under shelling and with fighters roaming the streets.

Residents of Khartoum and the adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri reported airstrikes near the state broadcaster and battles in several areas, including near the army headquarters.

A Bahri resident said there had been no water or electricity for a week and frequent air raids. “We are waiting for the big fight. We are terrified of what is coming,” he said, sending a message later: “It started.”

Another resident, Muhammad Siddiq, from Bahri’s Shambat district, said: “We spent hours of terror today, when there were clashes and shooting between the army and the RSF inside the neighborhood, and bullets everywhere.”

Television broadcasts showed a huge cloud of black smoke rising from the Khartoum airport.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called for safe passage. “We need ports of entry where we can bring specialized trauma personnel and medical supplies,” said Abdalla Hussein, director of MSF operations in Sudan.

The Sudanese doctors union said more than two-thirds of hospitals in conflict areas were out of service, with 32 forcibly evacuated by soldiers or caught in crossfire.

Beyond Khartoum, reports of the worst violence come from Darfur, a western region that suffered from a conflict that escalated from 2003 and left 300,000 dead and 2.7 million displaced.

A UN update on Saturday said looters had seized at least 10 World Food Program vehicles and six other food trucks after raiding the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala, South Darfur.

HUMANITARIAN RISK

from sudan sudden collapse The war wrecked plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster and threatened a broader conflict that could draw in outside powers, four years after the ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising.

There have been no signs yet that either side can secure a quick victory or is ready to talk. The army has air power, but the RSF is deeply entrenched in urban areas.

Burhan said on Saturday that “we must all sit down like Sudanese and find the right way out to bring back hope and life,” his most conciliatory comments since the fighting began.

Earlier in the fighting, he declared the RSF a rebel force, ordered its disbandment and said the only option was a military solution. Hemedti said Saturday that he could not negotiate with Burhan.

Since Bashir’s ouster and after a 2021 coup, Burhan and Hemedti held top posts in a governing council that was meant to hand over civilian rule and merge the RSF into the military.

The World Health Organization reported Friday that 413 people have been killed and 3,551 injured since the fighting broke out. The death toll includes at least five aid workers in a country dependent on food aid.

Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo Writing by Angus McDowall Editing by Frances Kerry

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