SOURCE: BBC NEWS
As fighting in Sudan continues well into its second week, foreign countries started evacuation efforts for their diplomats and citizens last weekend.
Here is a brief look at what’s happened so far:
- The US, Canada and UK announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country
- French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that evacuations took place on Sunday and Monday, getting 388 citizens and diplomats out of Sudan
- A handful of Dutch citizens also left Khartoum on the French planes
- Germany’s army said the first of three planes had left Sudan, bound for Jordan, with 101 people on board
- Italy and Spain have evacuated citizens – the Spanish mission included citizens from Argentina, Colombia, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Mexico, Venezuela and Sudan
- Turkey – a key player in Sudan – gathered 640 people in 13 buses to evacuate them by road – 500 others were gathered in an evacuation point. The mission included citizens from Azerbaijan, Japan, China, Mexico and Yemen
- More than 1,000 European Union citizens have been evacuated, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday, especially thanking France for the operation
- More than 150 people, mostly citizens of Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, Pakistan and Canada have been evacuated by sea to the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah
IMAGE: REUTERS
France says almost 400 people evacuated
In a joint statement, the French foreign and army ministries said “the evacuation operations launched in Khartoum are continuing”.
Quote Message: Two new rotations were carried out by the French air force between Khartoum and Djibouti City at the end of the day on 23 April and in the morning of 24 April, with about 100 people on board each time.”
The statement said 388 people had been evacuated so far, including French nationals and citizens of Europe, and also Africa and Asia.