US carries out first evacuation of its citizens from conflict-hit Sudan

The US on Saturday carried out the first-ever evacuation of its citizens from conflict-hit Sudan.

Hundreds of Americans fleeing two weeks of deadly fighting in Sudan reached the east African nation’s port, completing a dangerous land journey under the escort of armed drones.

American unmanned aircraft, which have been keeping an eye on overland evacuation routes for days, provided armed overwatch for a bus convoy carrying 200 to 300 Americans over 500 miles or 800 km to Port Sudan, a place of relative safety, US officials said.

The US, which had none of its officials on the ground for the evacuation, has been criticized by families of trapped Americans in Sudan for initially ruling out any Washington-run evacuation for those among an estimated 16,000 Americans in Sudan who wish to leave.

US special operations troops briefly flew to the capital, Khartoum, on 22 April to airlift out American staffers at the embassy and other American government personnel. More than a dozen other nations have already been carrying out evacuations for their citizens, using a mix of military planes, navy vessels and on the ground personnel.

A wide-ranging group of international mediators — including African and Arab nations, the United Nations and the United States — has only managed to achieve a series of fragile temporary cease-fires that failed to stop clashes but created enough of a lull for tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign nations to evacuate thousands of their citizens by land, air and sea.

Since the conflict between two rival generals broke out on 15 April, the US has warned its citizens that they needed to find their own way out of the country, though US officials have tried to link up Americans with other nations’ evacuation efforts. But that changed as US officials exploited a relative lull in the fighting and, from afar, organized their own convoy for Americans, officials said.

Without evacuation flights near the capital that other countries have been offering their citizens, many US citizens have been left to make the dangerous overland journey from Khartoum to the country’s main Red Sea port, Port Sudan. One Sudanese-American family that made the trip earlier described passing through numerous checkpoints manned by armed men and passing bodies lying in the street and vehicles of other fleeing families who had been killed along the way.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the convoy carried U.S. citizens, local people employed by the US and citizens of allied countries. “We reiterate our warning to Americans not to travel to Sudan,” he said.

From Port Sudan, away from the fighting, the Americans in the convoy can seek spots on vessels crossing the Red Sea to the Saudi port city of Jeddah. U.S. officials also are working with Saudi Arabia to see if one of the kingdom’s naval vessels can carry a larger number of Americans to Jeddah.

US consular officials will be waiting for the Americans once they reach the dock in Jeddah, but there are no US personnel in Port Sudan, officials said.

Two Americans are confirmed killed in the fighting that erupted on 15 April. One was a US civilian whom officials said was caught in crossfire. The other was an Iowa City, Iowa, doctor, who was stabbed to death in front of his house and family in Khartoum, in the lawless violence that accompanied the fighting.

The US airlifted out all its diplomats and military personnel and closed its embassy on 22 April. It left behind several thousand US citizens still in Sudan, many of them dual-nationals.

The Biden administration had warned it had no plans to join other countries in organizing evacuation for ordinary US citizens who wanted out, calling it too dangerous. There were no known US government personnel on the ground in Sudan assisting the convoy.

With inputs from AP

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.