France has started to evacuate its nationals, after a week of heavy fighting in Khartoum

France has started a “rapid evacuation operation” of its nationals and its diplomatic staff in Sudan, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sunday, April 23. European nationals and coming from “allied partner countries” are also supported. Violent fighting has opposed, since April 15, the army Sudanese and the paramilitaries of Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

US President Joe Biden had earlier said the military had “carried out an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum”, according to a statement released on Saturday evening. This evacuation was carried out by three CH-47 Chinook helicopters and involved a “just under a hundred” of people, including several foreign diplomats, said a senior State Department official.

The clashes in Sudan have already left more than 420 dead and 3,700 injured, according to a provisional report by the World Health Organization (WHO). They caused the flight of thousands of people and led to the mobilization of several countries to evacuate their nationals. The country also suffered an internet outage on Sunday. “almost total”reported NetBlocks, a London-based organization that monitors web access around the world.