President Biden said late Saturday that the US military had transported embassy officials out of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, amid rising violence as rival military leaders continued continue to fight for control of Africa’s third largest country.
Biden said: “Today, on my orders, the US military conducted an operation to remove US government employees from Khartoum. a statement released by the White House.
A US official familiar with the matter said the military transported about 70 US embassy staff by helicopter and V-22 Ospreys – a type of aircraft that can take off and land vertically – from a location near the embassy after sunset. Navy SEAL Team 6 special forces were involved, the official said.
The move comes on the eighth day of brutal fighting in the capital and other parts of the country between the military and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Force, whose leaders are competing against each other. supremacy in Sudan.
With the airport in the capital heavily damaged by shelling and the country’s airspace closed, the evacuation was a bold move. The Pentagon has deployed additional troops in recent days in the nearby country of Djibouti, where the US military is based, in preparation for a rescue.
The unnamed official who discussed the sensitive operation said the use of airlift planes for emergency evacuations was deemed necessary because of the alternative – a convoy through the city to the airport, where it had been. is the site of fierce fighting – has been seen. like it’s too dangerous. Mr. Biden also thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, saying they were crucial to the campaign’s success.
“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our embassy staff, who have carried out their duties courageously and professionally, while demonstrating friendship and rapport,” Biden said. America’s relationship with the people of Sudan. “I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety.”
In a separate statement released by the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III also praised the troops involved in the operation.
“This action, led by US Africa Command and conducted in close coordination with the US Department of State, demonstrates the Department of Defense’s support for its personnel,” he said. our nation’s diplomacy. “I am proud of our extraordinary service members who carried out and supported this operation with unsurpassed precision and professionalism.”
The announcement caused a day of confusion, after Sudan’s military commander vowed to help relocate citizens of several countries including the United States, but the embassy at the time said the evacuation Their citizens are too dangerous.
According to the United Nations, at least 400 people were killed in the ensuing clashes and 3,500 were injured. They include at least 256 civilians killed and 1,454 injured, according to the doctors’ association.
Fighting has left many people trapped in their homes, without electricity, food or water, and doctors and hospitals say they are struggling to cope.
Countless residents of Khartoum have fled the city, where bodies lie in the streets, to seek refuge in the suburbs and safer states. More than 15,000 people from the western region of Darfur have fled to neighboring Chad, and humanitarian groups say they are unable to work amid the relentless fighting.
Aid workers and diplomats, who could normally stay out of the fray, are now targeted. The World Food Program said three of its workers were killed. An American convoy was attacked last week and the European Union’s ambassador to Sudan was assaulted at his home.
The army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, said in a statement on Saturday morning that his army would facilitate the evacuation of diplomats. and citizens from Britain, China, France and the United States “in the next hour.”
However, soon after, the US Embassy said in a security alert that “due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and the closure of the airport, it is currently unsafe to conduct a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens.”
But hours later, a Twitter account believed to be run by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Burhan’s rival, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan, announced in a statement that it had supported the forces. US forces evacuated all embassy staff and their families.
“Quick Support Force Command coordinated with the six-aircraft U.S. Forces Mission to evacuate diplomats and their families Sunday morning,” the statement read. declare speak. (Twitter removed the authentication last week, but the account has a significant following and looks legit.)
The embassy in Khartoum declined to say how many Americans are in the country. But a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said that during the Covid pandemic, the embassy counted about 19,000 Americans in Sudan, many of them carrying two nationality.
Some countries have set up aircraft in neighboring countries, ready to take off when the airport is clear. According to one estimate, the planes will be able to carry a total of 4,000 people.
But any flight into and out of Khartoum carries risks. The area around the airport, including the military headquarters, has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting over the past week. And residents said gunfights continued to erupt in several parts of the city on Saturday morning, including near the airport.
Overland travel is also associated with significant risks. Khartoum is 600 miles from the border with Egypt and 525 miles from Port Sudan on the Red Sea — the same distance from New York City to Columbus, Ohio, but through disputed areas by both sides.
Expatriates and wealthy Sudanese have turned to private security firms to help get rid of Khartoum, but the risk remains. The security official said a convoy carrying 17 people made the 14-hour journey from the city on Friday, only to reach a hotly contested area where gun battles continued on Saturday. .
Earlier, General al-Burhan said diplomats from Saudi Arabia had been evacuated by land to Port Sudan, in the east of the country, and taken to Saudi Arabia, with a similar operation expected. will take place for Jordanian citizens. Hungary’s foreign minister said on Saturday that 14 Hungarian citizens and 48 foreign nationals, most of them Americans and Italian citizenhas been evacuated by sea and is heading to Egypt.
As clashes continue, Sudan’s healthcare system is shaky and there is little sign that the two warring factions will stop fighting. Of the 78 major hospitals in the country, only 55 are active, according to the doctors’ association.
“The health care system is about to collapse,” Mohamed Eisa, secretary general of the Sudanese American Physicians Association, a US-based nonprofit, said in a telephone interview. phone call from Khartoum. “We have to ensure a safe passage for the injured.”
The gunfire ceased on Friday night, giving the people of Khartoum hope that there would be a breakup. Dr Eisa said it was the first time he was able to take a nap at his home in southern Khartoum, where fighting is still ongoing.
It doesn’t last long.
He woke up Saturday morning to gunfire and heavy machinery. “It was as if nothing had happened,” he says of his shattered hopes for a break.
Meheut’s constant contribution report from Paris.
