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The final UK evacuation flight from Sudan departed from the Wadi Saeedna airfield near Khartoum at 10pm local time on Saturday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has said.
A statement on the government’s foreign travel advice for Sudan website said: “The UK government is no longer running evacuation flights from Wadi Saeedna airfield.
“The last evacuation flight departed the airfield at 2200 Sudan time on 29 April.”
It comes as a government minister said the evacuation mission has been “extremely successful” but cannot last “forever”.
At least 1,888 people on 21 flights have been evacuated from Sudan - the vast majority of them British nationals and their dependents - but thousands more British citizens may remain.
It comes as fighting has broken out again in Khartoum despite the extension of an armistice between the country’s two warring generals having been brokered in the early hours of Friday.
In pictures: Saudi nationals are hoisted aboard evacuation vessel
Saudi naval and special forces are pictured hoisting evacuees aboard a vessel during a rescue operation from Port Sudan to Jeddah.
Heavy fighting again rocked Sudan’s capital as tens of thousands have fled the bloody turmoil and a former prime minister warned of the “nightmare” risk of a descent into full-scale civil war.
Army forces clashed with paramilitaries in Khartoum as deadly hostilities have entered a third week despite the latest ceasefire, which was formally set to expire at the end of the day.
209 Irish citizens and dependents evacuated from Sudan in total
A further 89 Irish citizens and their dependents have been evacuated from Sudan, bringing the total Irish evacuees to 209, the Department of Foreign Affairs has said.
The majority of Irish citizens evacuated by air in recent days have been carried on UK flights into Cyprus, the department said.
The UK Government had said its final flight departed from Wadi Saeedna airfield late on Saturday night.
It comes as a ceasefire in the conflict-stricken north African country appeared to falter, with residents reporting heavy explosions and gunfire breaking out again in the capital Khartoum despite the extension of the armistice between the country’s two warring generals.
Hundreds of people have died in the bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.
Micheal Martin, the Irish deputy premier and Foreign Affairs Minister, said Ireland’s Emergency Civil Assistance Team (Ecat) operation in Cyprus and Djibouti is now to be withdrawn.
The mission, named Operation Piccolo, has involved Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials being stationed in the countries with the aim of assisting in the evacuation.
Ireland has also received help from France and Spain to airlift Irish citizens, residents and visa holders to safety.
Members of the Defence Forces’ Special Operations Forces unit and the Army Ranger Wing supported the operation.
“On deployment, the team secured the DFA personnel on the ground, liaised with key actors in the airport and assisted DFA in the processing and evacuation of identified Irish citizens/dependents,” the Defence Forces said in a statement.
“The team were also on standby to provide medical assistance if required.”
Ireland will now maintain an “enhanced multi-location consular presence” for citizens who remain in Sudan - operating from Dublin, Nairobi, Cairo, Amman, Riyadh and Addis Ababa.
The department said embassies remain in close contact with any citizens in Sudan who have requested assistance.
“I wish to thank the ECAT team and all those involved in our consular response,” Mr Martin said.
“Our primary aim has been to offer our citizens every assistance through what has been an extremely difficult and challenging time.
“Our experienced consular teams in Dublin and in the region will continue to actively respond to the needs of our citizens as the situation evolves.
“I would like to thank our EU partners, the UK, Jordan, Norway and Djibouti for their strong cooperation in this challenging mission,” the Tanaiste added.
Citizens have been urged to follow the Embassy of Ireland in Kenya on Twitter (IrlEmbKenya) for updated advice.
Emergency aid supplies reach Sudan, as fighting sputters on
An aircraft carrying eight tons of emergency medical aid landed Sunday in Sudan to resupply hospitals devastated by more than two weeks of fighting between forces loyal to rival generals.
The supplies are enough to treat hundreds of wounded, as the civilian death toll from the countrywide violence topped 400. The conflict erupted on April 15 between the nation’s army and its paramilitary force, and threatens to thrust Sudan into a raging civil war.
More than two-thirds of hospitals in areas with active fighting are out of service, a national doctors’ association has said, citing a shortage of medical supplies, health workers, water and electricity.
On Sunday, the aircraft carrying medical aid took off from Jordan and landed in the city of Port Sudan, said the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The supplies, including anesthetics, dressings, sutures and other surgical material, are enough to treat more than 1,000 people wounded in the conflict, the ICRC said.
“The hope is to get this material to some of the most critically busy hospitals in the capital” of Khartoum and other hot spots, said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa.
The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, which monitors casualties, said Sunday that over the past two weeks, 425 civilians were killed and 2,091 wounded. The Sudanese Health Ministry on Saturday put the overall death toll, including fighters, at 528, with 4,500 wounded.
Some of the deadliest battles have raged across Khartoum. The fighting pits the army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.
The generals, both with powerful foreign backers, were allies in an October 2021 military coup that halted Sudan‘s fitful transition to democracy, but they have since turned on each other.
Ordinary Sudanese have been caught in the crossfire. Tens of thousands have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad and Egypt, while others remain pinned down with dwindling supplies. Thousands of foreigners have been evacuated in airlifts and land convoys.
On Sunday, fighting continued in different parts of the capital where residents hiding in their homes reported hearing artillery fire. There have been lulls in fighting, but never a fully observed cease-fire, despite repeated attempts by international mediators.
Over the weekend, residents reported that shops were reopening and normalcy gradually returning in some areas of Khartoum as the scale of fighting dwindled after yet another shaky truce. But in other areas, terrified residents reported explosions thundering around them and fighters ransacking houses.
Youssef, the ICRC official, said the agency has been in contact with the top command of both sides to ensure that medical assistance could reach hospitals safely.
“With this news today, we are really hoping that this becomes part of a steady coordination mechanism to allow other flights to come in,” he said.
Youssef said more medical aid was ready to be flown into Khartoum pending necessary clearances and security guarantees.
Countries rush to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan
The conflict between Sudan‘s army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered a rush to evacuate foreign diplomats and citizens.
Several countries have taken nationals out by air, while some have gone via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, about 800 km (500 miles) by road from Khartoum. This is the status of some countries’ efforts:
UNITED STATES
U.S. forces evacuated American and some foreign diplomats on April 22.
A convoy organized by the U.S. government arrived at a Sudanese port city on Saturday, evacuating U.S. citizens, local staff and others, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.
Washington has previously said it was positioning naval assets to assist evacuations if necessary.
Britain said it has evacuated 1,888 people, mostly British nationals and their dependents, on 21 flights since Tuesday. The government decided the last evacuation flight would leave on Saturday evening, citing a decline in demand from British nationals and continued volatility on the ground.
The government had estimated there were about 4,000 Britons in Sudan. It evacuated its diplomats and their families on April 22.
Cyprus said it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism at Britain’s request to let third countries use it for reception and repatriation of foreign citizens evacuated from Sudan. Cyprus is home to two large British military bases.
Egypt has evacuated a total of 6,399 Egyptians, 1,072 of whom were evacuated on Friday. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday some 16,000 people had crossed from Sudan to Egypt, including 14,000 Sudanese citizens.
Germany said on Wednesday it had ended its operation to evacuate people from Sudan, with over 700 people flown out of the country, including around 200 German citizens. Germany’s evacuation mission brought out people from more than 30 countries, including Belgian, British, Dutch, Jordanian and U.S. citizens as well as Germans.
The French government said on Thursday that it had so far evacuated a total of 936 people from Sudan. Those included not only French nationals but also Britons, Americans, Canadians, Ethiopians, Dutch, Italians and Swedes.
The United Nations secretary-general thanked France for its “vital assistance” in transporting 400 U.N. personnel and their dependents out of Sudan.
Italian military planes flying from Djibouti evacuated 83 Italians and 13 others, including children and the Italian ambassador. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said some Italian NGO workers and missionaries had decided to stay in Sudan, while 19 others had been taken to Egypt.
NETHERLANDS
About 100 Dutch nationals have been evacuated from Sudan since April 23, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said. Half left on four Dutch evacuation flights to Jordan, which also carried about 70 people from 14 other countries.
The Netherlands aims to evacuate a total of around 150 Dutch nationals and has supplied two military planes to the international effort, which are also available for other nationalities.
SWITZERLAND
Switzerland has shut its embassy and evacuated all Swiss staff and their families.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The United Arab Emirates evacuated its citizens, other nationalities and humanitarian cases from Sudan by plane on Saturday. Around 128 evacuees, including British and U.S. citizens, landed in the capital Abu Dhabi.
Russia has not yet announced any evacuation of its embassy or its nationals from Khartoum. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russians in Sudan were in close contact with Moscow.
All Japanese people who wished to leave have been evacuated, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
A further 363 Indonesian citizens evacuated from Sudan arrived home on Sunday on a second flight by the country’s flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, the country’s foreign ministry said.
A first group of Indonesian evacuees arrived back in the country on Friday, and a total of 748 citizens have been evacuated from Sudan as of Sunday.
China said most Chinese nationals have been safely evacuated in groups to neighbouring countries. The defence ministry deployed naval ships to pick up and evacuate citizens on Wednesday.
The foreign ministry said between Tuesday and Thursday, nearly 800 people were transferred by sea and more than 300 travelled to neighbouring countries by land.
The Chinese consulate-general in Jeddah issued a notice on Wednesday advising citizens who planned to evacuate to Saudi Arabia to enter through the Jeddah Islamic Port.
More than 1,200 Indians evacuated from Sudan had arrived in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as of Thursday, and would soon be repatriated to India, the country’s junior foreign minister V. Muraleedharan said.
Canada conducted its first evacuation operation in Sudan on Thursday, airlifting over 100 people, including Canadians and other nationals, on two flights from the war-torn North African country, senior government officials said.
Canada would deploy about 200 troops to coordinate evacuations from war-torn Sudan, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said on Wednesday. About 180 Canadians had already been evacuated with the help of other countries.
There are about 1,800 Canadians in Sudan, out of which about 700 have requested assistance from the foreign ministry, according to the Canadian government.
Chad conducted its first evacuation flights from Sudan carrying more than 200 people, including dozens of children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
Ukraine said it had rescued 87 of its citizens - most of them pilots, aircraft technicians and their families - among a total of 138 civilians, who also included citizens of Georgia and Peru.
Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry said on Thursday the government had evacuated 342 people who arrived in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Port Sudan.
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Saturday 65 Iranian citizens had left from Port Sudan, through Jeddah, to Iran.
ICYM: US conducts 1st evacuation of its citizens from Sudan war
Hundreds of Americans fleeing two weeks of deadly fighting in Sudan reached the east African nation’s port Saturday in the first U.S.-run evacuation, completing a dangerous land journey under escort of armed drones.
American unmanned aircraft, which have been keeping an eye on overland evacuation routes for days, provided armed overwatch for a bus convoy carrying 200 to 300 Americans over 500 miles or 800 kilometers to Port Sudan, a place of relative safety, U.S. officials said.
The U.S., which had none of its officials on the ground for the evacuation, has been criticized by families of trapped Americans in Sudan for initially ruling out any U.S.-run evacuation for those among an estimated 16,000 Americans in Sudan who wish to leave.
Red Cross arrives in Sudan
Red Cross aid has arrived in Port Sudan.
This is the first shipment of humanitarian aid to arrive in the war-torn country since clashes exacerbated, killing hundreds of civilians.
In pictures: Civilians wait at sea port to be evacuated from Sudan to escape the conflict
Civilians wait at sea port to be evacuated from Sudan to escape the conflicts, in Port Sudan
Saudi Royal Navy ship docks at sea port to evacuate civilians from Sudan, in Port Sudan
Ex-Sudanese PM warns conflict risks becoming ‘nightmare for world’ as civilian death toll hits 411
Airstrikes rocked parts of Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Saturday despite the extended ceasefire by the country’s two warring factions, as the former Sudanese prime minister urged both sides to get together for peace talks.
Terrified residents in some areas of the city reported explosions nearby and fighters ransacking houses, although residents in other areas said shops were reopening as the scale of the fighting dwindled.
Clashes were continuing around the presidential palace as well as the state broadcaster’s HQ and a military base in Khartoum.
The country’s former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok on Saturday urged for both sides to come together for peace talks to stop a full-blown civil war on the scale of the Libya and Syria conflicts.
UK will continue to support British nationals still in Sudan, transport secretary says
The UK will continue to provide support for British nationals in Sudan now that evacuation flights have ended, the transport secretary has said.
Mark Harper told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “The evacuation that we have conducted is the longest and largest evacuation of any western nation.
“We have taken out 1,888 British nationals, which I think is a testimony to the hard work of both those on the ground who have put themselves at risk and also those working at HQ to get that evacuation in place.”
He added: “We have now got some staff based at Port Sudan which is where we are going to continue providing consular support for British nationals that have chosen to remain in the country.”
What is happening in Sudan and why? The war and conflict explained
Tension had been building for months between Sudan’s army and the RSF, which together toppled a civilian government in an October 2021 coup.
The friction was brought to a head by an internationally-backed plan to launch a new transition with civilian parties. A final deal was due to be signed earlier in April, on the fourth anniversary of the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising.
Both the army and the RSF were required to cede power under the plan and two issues proved particularly contentious: one was the timetable for the RSF to be integrated into the regular armed forces, the second was when the army would be formally placed under civilian oversight.
Joe Sommerlad reports:
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvYWZyaWNhL3N1ZGFuLXdhci11ay1tYXAtY29uZmxpY3QtbWFwLWxhdGVzdC1ldmFjdWF0aW9uLWIyMzI5Njc0Lmh0bWzSAXFodHRwczovL3d3dy5pbmRlcGVuZGVudC5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkL2FmcmljYS9zdWRhbi13YXItdWstbWFwLWNvbmZsaWN0LW1hcC1sYXRlc3QtZXZhY3VhdGlvbi1iMjMyOTY3NC5odG1sP2FtcA?oc=5
2023-04-30 14:14:30Z
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