American special operations forces evacuated U.S. embassy personnel from Sudan on Sunday. Special forces flew the diplomats out by helicopter and were on the ground for less than an hour, with “no major casualties” reported.
Summary
American special operations forces evacuated U.S. embassy personnel from Sudan on Sunday. Special forces flew the diplomats out by helicopter and were on the ground for less than an hour, with “no major casualties” reported.
- Other countries evacuated their citizens from Sudan as the clashes between two rival generals continued into its second week with no sign of peace on the horizon. More than 400 people have been killed in the conflict.
- The US and UK both flew their personnel out of Sudan and France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Canada also conducted evacuations on Sunday.
- Some foreign citizens were injured during the evacuation, including one French citizen who was wounded when one of the two warring sides (each has accused the other) attacked a French evacuation convoy.
- While US government personnel have been safely evacuated, there are not yet any plans to evacuate American civilians from Sudan. Instead, the Biden administration appears to have left the more than 20,000 Americans in Sudan to fend for themselves.
- The United Kingdom carried out its own “complex and rapid” operation to evacuate British diplomats from Khartoum, the Guardian reported. The evacuation operation involved more than 1,200 British army, navy and air force personnel.
- President Joe Biden called for “an immediate and unconditional cease-fire” in Sudan and said “our commitment to the Sudanese people and the future they want for themselves is unending,” according to NBC News.
- Other nations are working to evacuate their diplomats from the conflict zone, per CNN. Egypt warned its citizens outside of the capital to prepare to withdraw over the border, while a French convoy came under fire while trying to flee the country.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, the evacuation “has prompted criticism from security experts and former U.S. government officials that Washington and other Western governments misread warnings about the impending threat and were too optimistic about the generals’ previous United Nations-mediated agreement to hand power to civilians.”
- Fox News noted the evacuation was completed with assistance from Ethiopia. US forces airlifted embassy personnel to an undisclosed location in the large East African nation, and Ethiopia also provided overflight anf refueling support for the operation.
- National Review observed the Sudan evacuation “marks the third time in three years that the U.S. military has moved out the staff of an American embassy as violence overtakes a foreign capital.” The Biden administration evacuated the American embassy in Kabul just before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021 and last year relocated embassy staff from Kyiv ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
