Sudan crisis: Which countries have evacuated their citizens from Sudan amid criticism of UK’s evacuation plans
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by 0 As foreign countries evacuate hundreds of their citizens from the escalating violence in Sudan, the UK government has been accused of not doing enough to extract its own nationals.
The conflict has killed 420 people and trapped millions of Sudanese citizens without access to basic services.
Elite British troops were involved in a covert mission to evacuate British diplomats and their families from the capital Khartoum under cover of darkness, Sky News revealed.
But the UK government has faced criticism over the level of assistance it is providing for the 4,000 or so other UK passport holders still in the country.
So what are other countries doing to rescue their citizens from the crisis?
The US
US special forces evacuated all US government personnel and their dependants from their embassy on Saturday using helicopters that flew from a base in Djibouti and refuelled in Ethiopia.
Washington reportedly is not planning to coordinate an evacuation of other Americans but is looking at options to help them leave.
France
Evacuation operations launched by France are continuing, the French government has said.
In an update this morning, it said two new “rotations” by the French Air and Space Force between the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and Djibouti – which lies around 1,348 km east of Sudan – took place on Sunday night.
There was another rotation this morning, the government said, and each had 100 people on board, including some from the UK.
France’s operations have so far resulted in 388 people being able to leave Sudan, it added.
Other EU countries
The Irish government also confirmed it is sending in a team to evacuate its citizens from the crisis.
Germany’s air force has also been involved in evacuations, extracting a total of 313 people from Sudan so far.
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‘We need to get out’
An Italian air force C-130 that departed from Khartoum with evacuees landed on Sunday night at an air base in Djibouti, the defence ministry said. It added that another plane, carrying Italy’s ambassador and military personnel involved in the evacuation was expected in Djibouti later in the night.
A Spanish military aircraft flew around 100 people out of Khartoum, including more than 30 Spaniards and the rest from Portugal, Italy, Poland, Ireland, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina, the foreign ministry said.
Sweden and Norway have said they were each involved in efforts to evacuate citizens.
Switzerland
Switzerland says it has closed its embassy in Khartoum and transported staff and their families out.
“This was made possible thanks to a collaboration with our partners, in particular France,” the Swiss foreign ministry said on Twitter.
Middle Eastern countries
Saudi Arabia took 91 Saudis and about 66 people from other countries out from Port Sudan by naval ship to the Suadi port of Jeddah, across the Red Sea.
Qatar thanked Saudi Arabia for helping evacuate Qatari citizens. Sudan’s army accused the RSF of attacking and looting a Qatari embassy convoy heading to Port Sudan. It was not clear if it was the same group that left for Saudi Arabia.
Kuwait said all citizens wishing to return home had arrived in Jeddah.
Egypt says it had around 10,000 nationals in neighbouring Sudan, 436 of whom had been evacuated.
Jordanian officials said four planes landed at Amman military airport carrying 343 evacuees from Port Sudan.
Lebanon said it was working to evacuate 51 citizens from Port Sudan.
Russia
Russia’s ambassador in Khartoum told state media that 140 out of roughly 300 Russians in Sudan had said they wanted to leave.
Evacuation plans were made but were still impossible to implement because they involve crossing frontlines, the ambassador said.
He added there were about 15 people, including a woman and child, stuck in a Russian Orthodox church close to heavy fighting in Khartoum.
Other countries
Around 83 Libyans including diplomats and their families, students and airline and bank employees had reached Port Sudan for onward travel home, according to Libya’s embassy in Khartoum.
South Korea said last week it was sending a military aircraft to evacuate its 25 citizens in Sudan.
Japan said three planes had landed in Djibouti to transport Japanese nationals.
Ghana and Kenya said they were working to help their nationals get out, while Nigeria said it had asked for a safe corridor to evacuate 5,500 nationals, mostly students.
