US embassy staff successfully evacuated from Sudan, says country's paramilitary force 

Khartoum: Sudan’s paramilitary force,  Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has said that the US military has evacuated embassy officials and their families from the war-torn country.

Fighting between Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces has entered a second week. The conflict has left more than 300 dead and several injured.

The US military carried out the evacuation operation, which involved the deployment of six aircraft, in coordination with RSF.

A person familiar with the developments told Reuters the US military had successfully evacuated embassy personnel. The Pentagon, however, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, other foreign nationals were rescued from a port in the Red Sea on Saturday.

The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers in the Sudanese capital, disabling the airport and rendering some roads impassable.

The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to honour declared ceasefires that have mostly been ignored and to open a safe passage for fleeing civilians and the supply of badly needed aid.

Owing to the closure of airports, several foreign nationals, including embassy officials, aid workers and students, have been unable to get out of the third-largest African nation.

Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 km (400 miles) from Khartoum. Jordan will use the same route for its nationals.

Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, though the Sudanese army has said airports in Khartoum and Darfur’s biggest city Nyala are problematic and it was not clear when that might be possible.

One foreign diplomat who asked not to be identified said some diplomatic staff in Khartoum were hoping for evacuation by air from Port Sudan in the next two days. The US Embassy warned Americans that it could not assist convoys from Khartoum to Port Sudan and travel would be at individuals’ own risk.

The conflict between the Sudanese army under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF broke out on 15 April and neither of the sides has been able to observe ceasefires agreed upon almost daily since hostilities broke.

On Saturday, the fighting breached a three-day truce from Friday to allow citizens to reach safety and visit family during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Both sides accused the other of not respecting the truce.

“I don’t have a problem with the ceasefire,” Hemedti told Al Arabiya TV late on Saturday. “They (the army) did not respect it. If they respect it, so will we.”

With inputs from agencies

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