Sudan Crisis: President Joe Biden said that the US military successfully evacuated US embassy personnel in Sudan. His statement came late on Saturday as he called for an end to the “senseless” violence.
Praising the US military for the swift evacuation, Biden said all staff had been evacuated from the US mission in Khartoum.
The crews were moved to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia, according to two US officials familiar with the mission. US troops carried out the mission as fighting between the two armed Sudanese rivals – which has killed more than 400 people, put the nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders – entered a second week. I went
I’m grateful: Biden
“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and engagement with the people of Sudan,” Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful for the exceptional skills of our service members who successfully brought them to safety.”
Biden also thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, who he said played a key role in “the success of our operations”.
More than 400 people have been killed since fighting broke out on April 15 between two factions whose leaders are battling for control of the country, according to the World Health Organisation. The violence included an unprovoked attack on a US diplomatic convoy and several incidents in which foreign diplomats and aid workers were killed, injured or assaulted.
Sudanese army wants RSF to surrender
The Sudanese army had ruled out talks with the RSF the day before, saying it would only accept their surrender, and on Friday claimed to have cleared RSF positions around Khartoum. With its monopoly on air power, the military appeared to have the upper hand in the fighting, but its claims of advances were impossible to verify.
The two generals vying for control of the vast African nation – Burhan and his rival, RSF chief Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo – have tried to portray themselves as supporters of democracy. In 2019, he turned against longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and ousted him from power amid a popular uprising against his rule.
But since then, he has failed to implement the agreements under which he would hand over power. His army crushed pro-democracy protests, and in 2021 they jointly staged a coup that overthrew a transitional government and installed them as Sudan’s most powerful leaders.
Both forces have a long history of human rights abuses
The RSF was born out of Janjaweed militias who were accused of committing atrocities in the early 2000s to quell an insurgency in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
The current eruption of violence between them comes after Burhan and Daglo walked out of a recently internationally brokered deal with democracy activists to arm the RSF and eventually lead it to civilian rule. Fighting continued to frustrate the nations’ efforts to evacuate their citizens from Sudan.
(with inputs from AP)
Also read: Sudan conflict: Army agrees to expel foreign nationals, diplomats