Warring factions trying to seize control of Sudan have plunged the country into chaos, and thousands are fleeing the capital of Khartoum and nearby battle zones.
Some countries have shuttered their embassies and many are coordinating daring evacuations of their staff and other residents in an array of convoys, flights, boats, and frantic getaway drives.
But over the past week, there have been dramatically different responses by various governments as they try to get their citizens and embassy personnel to safety.
The United States has come under scrutiny for evacuating roughly 70 embassy staff in a helicopter mission by elite SEAL commandos over the weekend while warning thousands of private American citizens in Sudan there would be no similar evacuation for them.
The State Department, which has advised US citizens for years not to travel to Sudan, continues to advise Americans to shelter in place. Most of the estimated 16,000 Americans believed to be in Sudan right now are dual US-Sudanese nationals and only a fraction of them have expressed a desire to leave.
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As security conditions worsened late last week, including damage to the civilian airport and an attack on a US diplomatic convoy in Khartoum, the State Department concluded “the only way we could do this safely for all of our diplomatic personnel was to rely on the capabilities of our military colleagues”, said Ambassador John Bass, State Department undersecretary for management.
On Saturday, the US embassy in Khartoum suspended its operations and ordered staff to leave the country.
The Pentagon has begun moving resources to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti to prepare for a possible evacuation. On Saturday, three MH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying SEAL commandos took off from Djibouti en route to Ethiopia, where they refuelled and then made the three-hour flight to Khartoum.
“The operation was fast and clean with service members spending less than an hour on the ground in Khartoum,” said Lieutenant-General DA Sims, director of operations at the Joint Staff. The helicopters flew in and out of Khartoum without taking any fire.
While embassy staff were airlifted out, there are no plans to provide similar evacuations for potentially thousands of Americans still in Sudan.
In a security alert on Tuesday, the State Department reiterated, “Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens.”
Some countries have shuttered their embassies and many are coordinating daring evacuations of their staff and other residents in an array of convoys, flights, boats, and frantic getaway drives.
But over the past week, there have been dramatically different responses by various governments as they try to get their citizens and embassy personnel to safety.
The United States has come under scrutiny for evacuating roughly 70 embassy staff in a helicopter mission by elite SEAL commandos over the weekend while warning thousands of private American citizens in Sudan there would be no similar evacuation for them.
The State Department, which has advised US citizens for years not to travel to Sudan, continues to advise Americans to shelter in place. Most of the estimated 16,000 Americans believed to be in Sudan right now are dual US-Sudanese nationals and only a fraction of them have expressed a desire to leave.
...
As security conditions worsened late last week, including damage to the civilian airport and an attack on a US diplomatic convoy in Khartoum, the State Department concluded “the only way we could do this safely for all of our diplomatic personnel was to rely on the capabilities of our military colleagues”, said Ambassador John Bass, State Department undersecretary for management.
On Saturday, the US embassy in Khartoum suspended its operations and ordered staff to leave the country.
The Pentagon has begun moving resources to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti to prepare for a possible evacuation. On Saturday, three MH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying SEAL commandos took off from Djibouti en route to Ethiopia, where they refuelled and then made the three-hour flight to Khartoum.
“The operation was fast and clean with service members spending less than an hour on the ground in Khartoum,” said Lieutenant-General DA Sims, director of operations at the Joint Staff. The helicopters flew in and out of Khartoum without taking any fire.
While embassy staff were airlifted out, there are no plans to provide similar evacuations for potentially thousands of Americans still in Sudan.
In a security alert on Tuesday, the State Department reiterated, “Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens.”
