Which countries are evacuating their citizens from Sudan?

2023-04-24 22:38:56, Kosova & Bota CNA

Which countries are evacuating their citizens from Sudan?

Spanish Air Force plane arrives in Madrid with passengers evacuated from Sudan (April 24, 2023)

As the ongoing fighting raises concerns that Sudan could slide deeper into chaos, foreign governments are scrambling to expel their diplomats and nationals. Most countries deployed military transport planes to evacuate people, including France which used its airbase in neighboring Djibouti for the airlift. But all is not well - around 2,000 British nationals remain in Sudan and many complain that their government is not giving them enough information about evacuation plans.

Although some flights involved people of different nationalities, below are the evacuation efforts based on the information available so far:

UNITED STATES:

US special operations forces used helicopters to transport 70 US embassy staff from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, early Sunday. The US government has told the approximately 16,000 US citizens in Sudan to fend for themselves and that there will be no mass evacuations.

UNITED KINGDOM:

Around 1,200 British soldiers who were part of a military operation from a major British airbase on the eastern island of Cyprus helped evacuate around 30 members of the UK's diplomatic staff and their families from Sudan. Efforts are being made to fly evacuees to Britain from Cyprus. There is no information on how many people have been evacuated. British Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell said around 2,000 UK citizens still in Sudan had registered at the embassy and that "intensive planning" was underway for a "number of possible evacuations".

FRANCE:

Officials say France has evacuated 491 people, including citizens from 36 countries, on flights from the Somali Peninsula to Djibouti. They include 23 Sudanese nationals who were family members or had other ties to the foreigners being evacuated and 38 Niger nationals. Another 36 were Irish nationals and nine were American. Among the others were three wounded, two Greek citizens and a Belgian, as well as the German ambassador and several other foreign ambassadors.

GERMANY:

Four German military transport planes flew more than 400 people from Sudan to Jordan from where they will go to their countries. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her country had evacuated citizens of 20 countries besides her own and would try to continue doing so, even if the end of the ceasefire on Monday could complicate the situation. The DPA news agency said that among the evacuees were citizens of Australia, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Belgium, Norway, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Sweden, and Portugal. The Austrian government said 27 people were Austrian citizens.

ITALY:

An Italian Air Force C-130 transport plane took about 200 people out of Khartoum airport on Sunday evening and took them to Djibouti. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said they included 140 Italians, some Swiss, other Europeans and staff from the Vatican embassy in Khartoum.

SPAIN:

Spain said it had evacuated around 172 people from the Sudanese capital to Djibouti so far, including 34 Spanish nationals and nationals of Argentina, Colombia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Poland.

SWEDEN AND DENMARK:

Sweden says 25 members of its embassy staff and their families were among the 388 people French planes flew to Djibouti. Denmark said 15 of its citizens were among the same group.

FINLAND:

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto tweeted that 10 Finns had been evacuated from Khartoum, including children. He said efforts were being made to evacuate some Finns who remained in the Sudanese capital.

NORWAY:

Norway's ambassador to Sudan, Endre Stiansen, tweeted that he and two colleagues are "in a safe place outside Sudan".

POLAND:

Poland's foreign ministry said 11 Poles - including the ambassador to Sudan, diplomatic staff and private citizens - had been evacuated as part of the French and Spanish efforts.

NETHERLANDS:

Two C-130 Hercules planes of the Dutch Air Force have transported from Sudan to Jordan on Monday citizens of various nationalities, including the Dutch. No exact figures were given. Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said in a tweet that more flights were planned "in close cooperation with partners".

TURKEY:

The Turkish government says it is evacuating hundreds of Turkish citizens by land to Ethiopia, where they will be flown to Istanbul.

GREECE:

The Greek Foreign Ministry said that 15 Greek citizens and their families were being evacuated to Djibouti, with the help of Italy.

JAPAN:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said a military transport plane had taken 45 Japanese nationals and their families from Port Sudan to Djibouti. Mr. Kishida said Monday that only a very small number of Japanese remain in Sudan and that Japan would do its utmost to help them as soon as possible. Japan has sent three transport and refueling planes, as well as 370 soldiers, to the military base in Djibouti to help evacuate 60 Japanese nationals.

SOUTH AFRICA:

The South African government says at least 77 of its nationals, including embassy staff, are leaving the Sudanese capital.

KENYA:

Kenya's foreign ministry says 29 Kenyan students have crossed into Ethiopia and will go to Nairobi, while the air force has put a transport plane on standby to evacuate 18 students who are already traveling by land to the South Sudanese border. . Two more planes are expected to transport 300-400 Kenyans to Jeddah.

PALESTINIANS:

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said about 72 Palestinians have been relocated to Port Sudan, while convoys of vehicles are transporting about 200 Palestinians to Egypt.

SOUTH KOREA:

South Korea said a bus carrying at least 28 South Korean nationals, including embassy staff, had entered South Sudan's airport, where a South Korean military plane was waiting to transport them to Jeddah, in Arabia. Saudi.

JORDAN:

About 343 Jordanian nationals who were evacuated from Port Sudan arrived at the Amman military airport in four transport planes.

EGYPT:

The state-run MENA news agency said Egypt is urging about 10,000 Egyptian nationals stranded in Sudan to go to consular offices in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa in the north to evacuate. Busloads of Egyptian nationals, whose number was not disclosed, crossed to Egypt on Monday through the Arqin border crossing.