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US Embassy Staff Evacuated from Sudan

by Cindy Saine

   U.S. state department --

   The United States evacuated its diplomats and their families from the
   U.S. Embassy in Khartoum early Sunday and has temporarily suspended
   embassy operations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a
   statement late Saturday in Washington.

   Blinken said he directed the temporary closing of the embassy because
   of "the serious and growing security risks created by the conflict
   between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces," which
   has caused a significant number of civilian deaths and injuries, the
   statement said.

   President Joe Biden, in a statement of his own late Saturday, said the
   evacuation was complete, and he thanked the U.S. troops who carried out
   the mission.

   "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 connection with the people of Sudan," Biden
   said. "I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who
   successfully brought them to safety."

   Biden also thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia, which he said
   played a critical role in "the success of our operation."

   About 70 Americans were airlifted from the embassy to an undisclosed
   location in Ethiopia, two U.S. officials familiar with the mission told
   The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive
   nature of the mission. Diplomatic colleagues from other embassies who
   were at the American embassy at the time of the airlift were also
   included in the airlift operation, an official said.

   Biden gave the order, they said, after receiving an assessment on
   Saturday from national security advisers that the fighting would not
   subside.

   In recent days, Blinken has spoken repeatedly to both General Abdel
   Fattah Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and General
   Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the rival Rapid Support Forces,
   known as Hemedti.

   Blinken called on both generals to uphold the nationwide cease-fire
   through at least the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on
   Sunday.

   Blinken reiterated that call to both sides in his statement Saturday
   night.

   The two generals are former allies who seized power in a 2021 coup but
   later fell out in a bitter power struggle.

   The sudden fighting that broke out one week ago has brought the city of
   more than 5 million people to the brink of collapse, with residents
   hunkering down inside their homes with no electricity amid bombardment,
   and with marauding fighters roaming the streets, looting homes.

   According to the World Health Organization, more than 400 people have
   died.

   Experts told VOA the situation in Khartoum is dire. Nicole Widdersheim,
   the deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch, spoke with VOA
   via Zoom.

   "And then what I'm most concerned about is we're also hearing that
   Sudanese continue to try to flee the bombardment and the aerial
   strikes, which I understand from our experts who are in direct contact
   with people in Khartoum, this is getting worse. It's getting more
   indiscriminate."

   State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Friday that U.S.
   authorities were in touch with several hundred U.S. citizens understood
   to be in Sudan. The department confirmed the death of one U.S. citizen
   in the country. The person was not a U.S. government employee.

   "We have advised Americans to not travel to Sudan since August 2021 and
   the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum's security alert on April 16 stated that
   due to the uncertain security situations in Khartoum and closure of the
   airport, Americans should have no expectation of a U.S.
   government-coordinated evacuation at this time," Patel said. "It is
   imperative that U.S. citizens in Sudan make their own arrangements to
   stay safe in these difficult circumstances."

   U.S. officials, however, remain in touch with Americans in Sudan,
   helping them in some instances to make contact with fellow citizens to
   pool their resources and making sure that Americans who remain in Sudan
   have up-to-date information about security in the African nation.

   Sudan borders seven countries and sits between Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
   Ethiopia and Africa's volatile Sahel region. The violence broke out as
   an internationally backed transition plan to form a new civilian
   government was scheduled to take effect, four years after the fall of
   Omar-al-Bashir. Both the government and the paramilitary forces accuse
   each other of thwarting the transition.

   VOA United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer and reporter Michael
   Atit in Khartoum contributed to this story.