Fright flight: International personnel of the United Nations Mission board the French frigate ‘Lorraine’ at Port Sudan amid a ceasefire between the country’s warring generals. (AFP/Getty Images)
Multiple nations have scrambled to evacuate embassy staff and citizens by road, air and sea from chaos-torn Sudan, where fighting between the army and paramilitaries has killed hundreds of people.
Despite a 72-hour ceasefire gunfire rang out in the capital, Khartoum.
Some evacuees have been airlifted from Khartoum and taken to Djibouti, Jordan and Cyprus. Others have driven to Port Sudan, 850km away, and then boarded ships to Saudi Arabia or headed by road to Egypt and Ethiopia.
Here is an overview of what countries around the world have done in recent days in efforts to take stranded citizens to safety.
Mideast and Africa
Saudi Arabia led the first large-scale evacuations on Saturday by sea, and since then hundreds of Saudis and people from more than 20 countries have been taken to the port city of Jeddah.
The United Arab Emirates said it had “evacuated its citizens” to Port Sudan and was hosting people from 19 other countries who had been rescued. On Sunday, Jordan airlifted about 350 people including Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians and Germans to a military airport in the kingdom, and on Monday announced that 20 Jordanians arrived on a German plane.
More than 50 Lebanese and 105 Libyans have left on a Saudi vessel. Egypt’s military last week evacuated 177 soldiers, and on Sunday said 436 citizens had left by land. More than 10 000 Egyptians are thought to live in Sudan.
More than 200 Moroccans were taken to Port Sudan in convoys organised by their embassy, Rabat said Monday. Mauritania said 101 citizens had reached Port Sudan.
Algeria, Tunisia and South Africa have also announced rescue operations while Chad said it was sending planes to collect 438 citizens from Port Sudan. Mali said on Tuesday that 55 citizens had arrived at Sudan’s border with Ethiopia and another group of 14 people was on its way there.
Kenya, with about 3 000 citizens in Sudan, evacuated 19 Kenyans, 19 Somalis and a Saudi. They landed in Nairobi on Monday night.
Nigeria plans to get nearly 3 000 citizens, mostly students, out by convoy to Egypt this week, an official said Monday. Uganda has evacuated more than 200 people on buses that travelled through Ethiopia, its ambassador said. Côte d’Ivoire reported that 47 citizens were headed by bus from Khartoum to Cairo.
North America
US military helicopters on Sunday collected just under 100 people from the embassy in Khartoum. Canada has also pulled its embassy staff out.
Although Washington initially warned any wider effort to evacuate other Americans is unlikely in the coming days, the Pentagon said on Monday officials were looking into potential land routes out of the country.
Europe
Britain on Tuesday said it had launched “a large-scale evacuation” of its citizens, following an operation on Sunday to take out embassy staff. Some 4 000 Britons with dual nationality and 400 with UK-only passports are in Sudan, according to the British government.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that 1 000 EU citizens had been evacuated.
France has evacuated 538 people, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, with French citizens making up about a third of them. Germany has sent planes to airlift 400 people. Ukraine said on Tuesday it had evacuated 138 people, including 87 of its own citizens, to Egypt.
The Netherlands said about “100 Dutch citizens have been evacuated, half of them on Dutch flights”, which also carried 70 others, according to the foreign ministry. Italy evacuated about 200 people in a military operation on Sunday, rescuing all Italian citizens who “had asked to leave” and others, including Vatican representatives.
A Spanish military plane with 100 passengers, 30 of them Spanish, left on Sunday for Djibouti, Madrid said.
The first group of 17 Greeks arrived Tuesday in Athens on an army transport plane via Djibouti, the defence ministry said.
Cyprus said it was exploring options to rescue some 20 citizens trapped in Sudan.
Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania said citizens had been evacuated with help from others. As of Monday about 65 from those countries, nearly half of them Austrian, were still awaiting rescue.
Asia
China said on Monday it had “safely evacuated” a first group of citizens.
It is estimated that about 1 500 “Chinese compatriots” were in Sudan.
New Delhi said on Monday “about 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan. More on their way” and Pakistan said a convoy carrying 211 of its citizens arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday, bringing the total number of Pakistanis evacuated to 700. About 1 500 Pakistanis are still in Sudan.
Japan has evacuated 45 citizens, including diplomats, aboard a military plane via Djibouti.
A plane carrying 28 South Koreans arrived in Jeddah on Monday, a Saudi official said.
Indonesia said it had moved 538 of its citizens to Port Sudan, with another 289 due to travel in a second phase.
Malaysia said 30 citizens had arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday.
The Philippines, with some 700 citizens in Sudan, said on Tuesday that 50 had been evacuated from Khartoum and were travelling overland to Egypt.“We will do what we can,” said foreign affairs official Eduardo de Vega. “It’s very difficult.” — AFP