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Khartoum’s international airport has been caught up in the fighting
Diplomats and citizens from the UK, US, France and China are to be evacuated from Sudan by air as fighting continues there, a statement from the Sudanese army said.
Army chief Fattah al-Burhan agreed to oversee and secure their evacuation “in the coming hours”, it said.
He is locked in a bitter power struggle with the leader of a rival paramilitary faction, the Rapid Support Forces.
The UK government said it was preparing for “a number of contingencies”.
Earlier plans to evacuate foreigners were not implemented due to safety fears.
A statement from the army said British, US, French and Chinese nationals and diplomats would be evacuated by air on military transport planes from the capital, Khartoum.
The UK government said it was “doing everything possible to support British nationals and diplomatic staff in Khartoum”.
It said its defense ministry was working with the foreign office to prepare for some provisions, without specifying whether immediate evacuations were among those plans.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chaired a Cobra meeting – an emergency response committee – on Saturday morning about the situation in Sudan.
Saudi Arabia also announced that it is organizing the evacuation of its citizens and citizens of “brotherly” countries.
The Sudanese army said Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic mission had been evacuated by land to the coastal city of Port Sudan and from there by air to Saudi Arabia. Jordan’s diplomatic mission will be secured next, it added.
Khartoum’s international airport was closed due to the violence, with foreign embassies – including the UK and US – unable to bring their citizens home.
The fighting entered its second week despite both sides – the army and the RSF – agreeing to a three-day ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, starting on Friday.
Sporadic gunfire and air strikes were heard in the capital on Saturday despite the ceasefire.
A former foreign minister, Mariam al-Mahdi, who took refuge in Khartoum told the BBC that the ceasefire “doesn’t take everyone”.
“We are out of electricity for the last 24 hours. We are out of water for the last six days,” she said.
Medical teams are being targeted in the fighting, he said, adding: “There are decomposing bodies of our young people on the streets.”
Thousands of people have been trying to flee Sudan since the violent conflict began
Fierce street fighting erupted in Khartoum on April 15 after disagreements between the leaders of both sides – General Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo of the RSF – over how Sudan should be run.
They both hold top positions in Sudan’s current military government, which was formed after a 2019 coup that ousted longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.
They were supposed to join forces but the RSF resisted this change, mobilizing its troops into full-scale fighting last week.
The World Health Organization says more than 400 people have been killed. The death toll is believed to be higher as people struggle to reach hospitals.
Thousands of people, mainly civilians, have also been injured, with medical centers under pressure to deal with the influx of patients.
Along with Khartoum, the western region of Darfur, where the RSF first emerged, has been badly affected by the conflict.
The UN has warned that up to 20,000 people – mostly women and children – have fled Sudan to seek safety in Chad, across the border from Darfur.
