Last Updated: April 23, 2023, 11:07 IST
Smoke is seen rise from buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan. (Reuters)
The US military used 6 aircraft, including helicopters and airplanes, to evacuate 70 people, including staff and their families, from Sudan
The US military on Sunday evacuated 70 American diplomats and their families from war-torn Khartoum, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces has said.
The US military used 6 aircraft, including helicopters and airplanes, to evacuate 70 people, including staff and their families, from Sudan.
“The Rapid Support Forces Command has coordinated with the U.S Forces Mission consisting of 6 aircraft, for evacuating diplomats and their families on Sunday morning,” the Rapid Support Forces said in a tweet.
“The Rapid Support Forces has also supervised all the necessary arrangements that preceded the evacuation process, as well as affirm their full cooperation with all diplomatic missions, and providing all necessary means of protection, and ensuring their safe return to their countries,” it added.
Rapid Support Forces CommandImportant StatementSunday, April 23, 2023The Rapid Support Forces Command has coordinated with the U.S Forces Mission consisting of 6 aircraft, for evacuating diplomats and their families on Sunday morning.The Rapid Support Forces has also… pic.twitter.com/D2ILdAnWUM— Rapid Support Forces – قوات الدعم السريع (@RSFSudan) April 23, 2023
President Joe Biden late Saturday also said that the US military evacuated American embassy staff from Khartoum and called for an end to the “unconscionable” fighting in Sudan’s capital between the army and a paramilitary group.
“Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US Government personnel from Khartoum,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the embassy was “temporarily suspending operations.”
As the violence entered its second week, Biden pushed for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire,” “unhindered humanitarian access” and respect for “the will of the people of Sudan.”
“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our Embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Biden said.
In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he ordered the evacuation of staff and their families due to the “serious and growing security risks” amid fighting that has already left hundreds dead and thousands wounded.
US Lieutenant General Douglas Sims told journalists that just over 100 American special operations personnel were involved in the operation, in which three CH-47 Chinook helicopters flew from Djibouti to Ethiopia to Sudan — where they were on the ground for less than an hour.
The fighting between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s forces and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began April 15 over a dispute on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.
The move was a key condition for a deal aimed at restoring Sudan’s democratic transition after the military toppled former leader Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen protests.
The two men had joined forces to oust a civilian government installed after Bashir’s downfall, before turning on each other.
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