Sudan evacuations push ahead as fragile cease-fire falters

The UK and US militaries managed to airlift their diplomats to safety, yet other countries were awaiting access to the airport in the capital Khartoum as the war raged unabated. A temporary cease-fire agreed to by Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces militia it has battled since April 15 appeared to have dissolved. 

“UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Twitter on Sunday afternoon.

Italy said that its evacuation would proceed from Khartoum’s airport, which other countries have so far avoided. “We are working to make sure that all Italians that wish to leave can do so by tonight,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview on Rai 3 national television.

The conflict, the culmination of a long-simmering struggle between the army and the RSF, has upended plans for a power-sharing government that was supposed to lead the nation of about 45 million to democratic elections after a 2021 coup. It has left over 420 people dead and at least 3,700 wounded, according to the World Health Organization.

Sitting at the crossroads of the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan has drawn interest from foreign powers including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have each backed the rival generals leading the fight — military boss Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Western powers have dangled billions of dollars in frozen aid in a push for a return of civilian rule in a country coveted by Russia and China for its strategic Red Sea coastline and mineral resources.

The French government, whose embassy in Khartoum came under attack early on Sunday, was among the countries coordinating an evacuation of its diplomats and citizens, it said in a statement. Meanwhile, neighboring South Sudan — which has about 1 million people in Sudan — has received around 7,000 citizens fleeing by road, acting foreign minister Deng Dau Deng said by phone from Juba.

“The airport in Khartoum is yet not safe and typically all the countries evacuating their people are doing it from Port Sudan,” Deng said, adding that its oil exports via the port were unaffected.

A six-bus convoy of French and German citizens was en route to the port, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the northeast, on Sunday, said two Western officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak publicly. 

Heavy clashes were reported in northern Khartoum and it remained unclear who controlled strategic locations throughout the capital city, according to an internal UN document published Saturday and seen by Bloomberg. 

The RSF and the army have traded accusations that the other side is impeding foreign evacuations and attacking embassy staff.

There are “no movement corridors in Khartoum officially open despite the RSF indicating openness to support evacuations,” according to the document. “Civilians are self-relocating despite the significant risks.”

Meanwhile, looting of humanitarian assets and forced entry into compounds reported since the conflict began are “expected to continue,” the UN said in the document. 

“Due to the shortages of water, fuel, food, UN personnel and dependents are likely to try to self-relocate, with significant risks of crossfire, arrests, physical violence,” the document said.