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Foreign nations flee their nationals as fighting rages in Sudan

April 24, 2023 / 9:46 AM
Sharjah24 - AFP: As violent conflict between forces loyal to two opposing generals continued for a second week, foreign nations sprung into action to remove their citizens from Sudan.
Evacuation flights were continuing early Monday, with hundreds of people flown out overnight on military aircraft.

Foreigners also fled the capital Khartoum in a long United Nations convoy, while millions of frightened residents hunkered down inside their homes, many running low on water and food.

Across the city of five million, army and paramilitary troops have fought ferocious street battles since April 15, leaving behind charred tanks, gutted buildings and looted shops.

More than 420 people have been killed and thousands wounded, according to UN figures, amid fears of wider turmoil and a humanitarian disaster in one of the world's poorest nations.

US special forces launched a rescue mission Sunday for around 100 embassy staff and their relatives, swooping in with Chinook helicopters to fly them to a military base in Djibouti.

US forces "will remain deployed in Djibouti to protect United States personnel and others until the security situation no longer requires their presence", President Joe Biden said Sunday in a letter to the Speaker of the House.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said UK forces had also rescued diplomats and their families while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country had temporarily suspended its evacuation operation.

"Our diplomats are safe -– they have been extracted and are working from outside the country," Trudeau tweeted.
April 24, 2023 / 9:46 AM

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