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Some foreign nationals began evacuating from a Red Sea port in Sudan on Saturday, even as air strikes again rocked the capital Khartoum after a week of fighting between rival commanders that has killed hundreds of civilians across the nation.
The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers in the Sudanese capital. The airport has been repeatedly targeted and many residents have been unable to leave their homes or get out of the city to safer areas.
The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to honor declared ceasefires that have mostly been ignored and to open safe passage both for fleeing civilians and for the supply of badly needed aid.
With the airport closed and skies unsafe, thousands of foreigners — including embassy staff, aid workers, and students in Khartoum and elsewhere in Africa’s third-largest country — have also been unable to get out.
Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 km (400 miles) from Khartoum. Jordan will use the same route for its nationals.
Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, though the Sudanese army has said airports in Khartoum and Darfur’s biggest city Nyala are problematic and it was not clear when that might be possible.
One foreign diplomat who asked not to be identified said some diplomatic staff in Khartoum were hoping for evacuation by air from Port Sudan in the next two days. The US Embassy warned Americans that it could not assist convoys from Khartoum to Port Sudan and travel would be at individuals’ own risk.
The army, under Abdel Fatteh al-Burhan and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have so far failed to observe ceasefires agreed upon almost daily since hostilities broke out on April 15.
