Mass Exodus: Sudan Crisis Prompts Urgent Evacuations by Foreign States as US and UK Diplomats Withdraw

Sudan's capital, Khartoum, has been plunged into chaos as military factions continue to fight, trapping many thousands of civilians in their homes. The violence erupted eight days ago between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, killing 400 people and sparking a humanitarian crisis. The US and UK said their armed forces helped embassy staff leave Sudan, but evacuations by some other countries faced problems. As people tried to flee the chaos, gunfire rang out across the city, and dark smoke hung overhead.

The warring factions have accused each other of attacking a convoy of French nationals, and the army accused the RSF of attacking and looting a Qatari convoy. Egypt said a member of its mission in Sudan was wounded by a gunshot. President Joe Biden said the US was temporarily suspending operations at its embassy in Khartoum but remained committed to the Sudanese people while calling for a ceasefire.

 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the country's armed forces have evacuated diplomatic staff and their family members. Moreover, US officials said special forces used aircraft, including MH-47 Chinook helicopters, to evacuate fewer than 100 people from the capital.

 

Sudan's sudden collapse into warfare has dashed plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster, and threatened a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers. Reports of the worst violence have come from Darfur, a western region bordering Chad that suffered a conflict that escalated in 2003, leaving 300,000 people dead and 2.7 million displaced.

 

The army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have failed to observe ceasefires agreed upon almost daily, including a three-day truce for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which began on Friday.

 

For the first time since the start of the fighting, a video was posted that briefly showed Hemedti in battle dress in the passenger seat of a pick-up truck, surrounded by cheering troops, near Khartoum's presidential palace. Battles have continued around the army's HQ and the airport, which has been closed by the clashes, and over the past two days in Bahri, where the army has used troops on the ground as well as air strikes to try to push back the RSF.

 

The RSF said on Sunday that its forces were targeted by air strikes in Bahri's Kafouri district and that dozens were "killed and injured". RSF forces were heavily deployed in the streets and on the bridges across the capital, with army troops visible in parts of Omdurman. Neighborhoods were otherwise largely empty of civilians and ordinary life.

 

Residents reported looting in the district, which is home to industrial zones containing important flour mills. World Health Organization head Tedros Ghebreyesus described multiple deadly attacks on health facilities. "Paramedics, frontline nurses, and doctors are often unable to access the wounded, and the injured cannot reach facilities," he tweeted.

 

Pope Francis appealed for an end to the violence during his Sunday midday prayer in Rome. As the fighting continues, the Sudanese people remain trapped and in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

 

 

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