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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

US convoys help more than 700 people evacuate Sudan

A ceasefire was extended in the war-torn country, but peace remains uncertain.

WASHINGTON (CN) — The United States facilitated the evacuation of more than 700 people from war-torn Sudan over the weekend, the State Department said Monday.

Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said U.S.-organized convoys assisted in the evacuation of American citizens, their immediate family members and citizens of “allied and partnered countries” in convoys on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

“This successful operation would not have been possible without the dedication and bravery of our locally employed staff,” Patel said at a briefing Monday. “We are working tirelessly and around the clock to ensure those who have sought our assistance in Sudan are aware of all options for evacuation.”

Officials don't have an estimate of how many U.S. citizens remain in the country or how many were among the convoys. The State Department has helped more than 1,000 U.S. citizens leave Sudan since fighting broke out more than two weeks ago between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.

Armed drones escorted buses of evacuees on the 500-mile journey from the capital of Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, NBC reported. Those who reach the port are being assisted to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

A Pentagon spokesperson said the convoy was assisted by “intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets to support air and land evacuation routes.”

On Sunday, the warring factions announced a three-day extension of the current tenuous ceasefire, but media outlets reported heavy fighting still occurring in the capital.

Western governments, including the United States, had largely evacuated their personnel from the country a week earlier. 

Patel said 200 State Department personnel are facilitating evacuations and have responded to more than 25,000 emails and “thousands” of calls and text messages. Officials don't have immediate plans for other evacuation convoys and Patel reiterated that the situation remains “dynamic.”

The World Health Organization estimated that more than 500 civilians have been killed in the fighting, including two U.S. citizens, with the second identified by his family as a doctor who was treating casualties from the fighting

Sudan was on the verge of shifting to a democracy but a power struggle between the military’s leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan, who leads the paramilitary group, broke out over the proposed integration of the latter into the army under a civilian government.

The two generals have shared power since 2021 after ousting civilian leaders from a transitional government that was formed in the wake of a popular uprising that toppled the regime of President Omar al-Bashir. 

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Categories / Government, International

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