France has started a “rapid evacuation operation” of its nationals and diplomatic staff from Sudan, where heavy fighting has entered its second week, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
European nationals and coming from “allied partner countries” are also supported, indicates the ministry, without further details.
The sequel after the ad
According to a diplomatic source, the Sudanese armed forces, like the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), against whom they are fighting, have “provided security guarantees” allowing this operation.
Some 250 French nationals live in Sudan, from the same source.
US embassy evacuated
A few hours earlier, the United States had announced that it had evacuated its embassy in Sudan. “Today, at my request, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum”President Joe Biden had said in a statement released late Saturday evening Washington time.
The FSRs had indicated on Twitter on Sunday that they had “coordinated” for this with Washington. Evacuation “diplomats and their families” was to take place on Sunday morning aboard six planes, according to the FSR.
The sequel after the ad
The first major operation to evacuate civilians since the start of the fighting was announced on Saturday by Saudi Arabia, which repatriated 91 of its citizens and 66 nationals of other countries.
420 dead and 3700 injured
For several days, the United States, South Korea and Japan have deployed forces in neighboring countries and the European Union has said it wants to take similar measures to evacuate their diplomats and nationals from Sudan.
Violence erupted there on April 15 between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, de facto ruler of Sudan since the 2021 putsch, and his deputy turned rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, who commands the Rapid Support Forces. .
The still very provisional toll stands at more than 420 dead and 3,700 injured, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
