Washington, Apr 29 (EFE).- The United States has managed to successfully evacuate hundreds of its citizens from Khartoum who are already safe in Port Sudan, on the shores of the Red Sea, and are waiting to be transferred to Saudi Arabia, in the first such operation by Washington since the war in Sudan began.
The transfer from Khartoum to Port Sudan was carried out by land with a convoy protected by high security measures, the US State Department reported this Saturday in a statement.
The convoy arrived this Saturday in Port Sudan, which has become the main exit point for Sudan, and from where the Americans are being transferred to the port city of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia and where 5,000 people of 96 different nationalities have arrived. since the conflict broke out.
The United States evacuated in its convoy with only US citizens, but also nationals of allied countries and Sudanese who have worked with the US embassy in the country, the State Department detailed.
Since last April 15, Sudan has been immersed in a conflict between the Army and the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR), clashes that began due to tensions over how to integrate the paramilitaries into the Armed Forces in the framework of a process of democratic transition.
The evacuation of foreign citizens has been possible thanks to a truce that was achieved with the mediation of the United States and Saudi Arabia.
That truce was due to expire on Thursday at midnight, but the parties decided to extend it even though they have not fully respected it and fighting has continued in Khartoum and other areas of the country such as the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur.
At least 528 people have been killed and more than 4,500 injured in the fighting, which has depleted the Sudanese health system and forced the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the UN.
According to figures from the United Nations and other institutions, since the start of the fighting on April 15, nearly 50,000 people have fled Sudanese territory to neighboring countries, mainly to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.
The UN estimates that, if it does not stop, the violence could cause the displacement of more than 270,000 people.
