Numerous countries, including Germany, coordinated internationally on Saturday to fly their citizens out of the civil war country of Sudan as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was the first country to bring its own compatriots to safety by sea.
The federal government’s crisis team, led by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), met in Berlin at noon to discuss the security situation and the various evacuation options. However, both ministries did not want to comment on any decisions.
Pistorius had canceled a planned trip to the USA the day before in order to be able to devote himself to the allegedly imminent deployment of the Bundeswehr. Baerbock also reported on Friday that the number of Germans who had contacted the Federal Foreign Office’s Crisis Response Center had so far been “in the lower three-digit range”.
The exact time is still uncertain – but it is clear that things have to happen very quickly now.
That’s what it says government circles
An internationally coordinated effort
Parallel to the meeting in Berlin, the two parties to the conflict in Sudan gave the go-ahead for the evacuation of foreign nationals and promised them safe conduct to the airport in the capital, Khartoum. A statement on behalf of army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan said the US, Britain, France and China would begin evacuations “in the coming hours”. There was a similar statement from his opponent Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the so-called RSF militia.
In coalition circles it was said to the Tagesspiegel that the situation at Khartoum Airport was still dangerous despite an agreed ceasefire. The federal government is trying to coordinate with other states so that as many emergency services as possible are “together on site” and can then take each other’s compatriots on board: “The exact time is still uncertain – but it has to be done very quickly now. ”
