Joe Biden orders evacuation of US Embassy staff in Khartoum

The United States evacuated diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Khartoum on Saturday April 22 after two weeks of heavy fighting in the capital of Sudan. “Today, on my orders, the US military conducted an extraction operation of US government personnel”, President Joe Biden said in a statement released in the evening. He also called for a “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” to put an end to this violence “senseless”.

The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, specified that this evacuation had been decided because of the “unacceptable risk” posed to embassy staff. The operation involved three CH-47 Chinook helicopters and enabled the exfiltration of a “just under a hundred” of people, including several foreign diplomats, detailed a senior State Department official. “We were able to enter and exit without incident”added a Pentagon official.

American nationals still there

This evacuation did not concern American nationals in Sudan, who would be several hundred. Given the security conditions, “we do not plan to coordinate at the government level an evacuation of the remaining fellow citizens at this time”, said a State Department official. He nevertheless affirmed that the American authorities were increasing contact with their nationals, encouraging them to seek safety.

Violent fighting pits the Sudanese army against the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, since April 15. Clashes have already done more than 420 dead and 3,700 injured, according to a provisional report from the World Health Organization (WHO). With the two sides also engaged in a communication battle, it is impossible to know who controls the country’s airports and in what state they are, after having been the scene of fierce fighting since the first day of the conflict.