More than a thousand EU citizens have already been evacuated from Sudan

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More than a thousand EU citizens were evacuated from Sudan in a “complex” but “successful” operation. launched over the weekend by several countries, it informed the head of diplomacy of that economic and political bloc, Josep Borrell.

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“It has been a long and busy weekend trying to get our people out of Sudan. It has been a complex operation, it has been a successful operation,” Borrell told the press upon arriving at the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Community.

In any case, the Spanish politician could not specify “concrete figures”. An estimated 1,500 EU citizens were in Sudan at the start of fighting which erupted on 15 this month.

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Borrell underlined that 21 staff members of the EU delegation in the country are already in European territory, while the head of that mission remains in Sudan but has left Khartoum.

The High Representative showed special thanks to France for their work in the evacuation operation and to the countries that have joined their efforts to make it possible.

Borrell said he was in contact with the two conflicting generals, of the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary group of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR), and assured that “now that the ceasefire is over we must continue to press for a political agreement”.

“We cannot allow Sudan, which is a very populous country, to implode, because it will send shock waves across Africa,” he added.

Josep Borrell: “The war must be stopped”

Borrell also said the message from the international community is the same: “we must stop the warsilence the guns and start looking for a political solution because there is no military solution to this”.

“Our people had to go out because they were in the middle of a war, some injured. It’s impossible to continue working as a diplomat,” he said.

Spain evacuated about thirty Spaniards and 70 other European and Latin American citizens from Khartoum on Sunday.

France assures that it has already evacuated 388 people, mainly citizens of that country, but also of Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland.

The French device also served to evacuate citizens of South Africa, Burundi, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Uganda, Rwanda, the United States, Canada, Japan, India and the Philippines. Italy, for its part, has expelled 105 of its citizens and 31 foreigners from Sudan.

“We have to calm things down, but the situation is not easy,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said today upon his arrival at the council.

As the ninth day of fighting began, US soldiers also carried out a precarious evacuation of US embassy staff in Sudan. Furthermore, by order of its president, Joe Biden, the offices of the diplomatic headquarters were closed.

Through a statement released by the White House, it was explained that Ethiopia, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia were “decisive” for the success of this exit.

Violence in Sudan erupted on April 15 between the army of General Abdel Fatah al Burhan, the de facto ruler since the 2021 coup, and his rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR). .

The clashes in this north-eastern African country of about 45 million inhabitants are taking place essentially in Khartoum, the capital, and in the Darfur region, in the west of the country.

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Source: Clarin

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