Elderly women in wheelchairs and babies asleep in their parents' arms were among nearly 200 people from 14 countries who disembarked from a naval frigate in the coastal city of Jeddah on Monday night after daring -- and draining -- journeys to safety.
"We travelled a long way from Khartoum to Port Sudan. It took us around 10 or 11 hours," said Lebanese national Suhaib Aicha, who has operated a plastics factory in Sudan for more than a decade.
"It took us another 20 hours on this ship from Port Sudan to Jeddah," he told AFP as his young daughter cried on his shoulders.
"There were many difficult moments, all of which involved fear, tension and anxiety," said another Lebanese passenger, a woman who declined to give her name.
"We were not sleeping, eating or drinking. We lived through many difficult days."
Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies, and many are now grappling with acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts.
Late on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Burhan and Daglo had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire.
Even so, those who reached Saudi soil on Monday said they were grateful to be out of a country where the doctors' union has reported that "morgues are full" and "corpses litter the streets".
- Saudi 'leverage' -
Saudi Arabia announced the first successful civilian evacuation from Sudan on Saturday, welcoming 150 people including foreign diplomats and officials in Jeddah.
Earlier on Monday, a C-130 Hercules military plane flew dozens of South Korean civilians, among them a small child and a nun in a white-and-blue habit, to Jeddah's King Abdullah Air Base.
All told, 356 people have been evacuated to the kingdom from Sudan so far -- 101 Saudis and 255 foreigners from more than 20 countries, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Saudi state media have provided wall-to-wall coverage of the operation as well as statements of gratitude from countries whose citizens have benefited.
As the naval frigate approached Jeddah port on Monday night, the state-affiliated Al-Ekhbariya channel broadcast images of passengers waving their arms and smiling, while others recorded the scene on their smartphones.
Staring into the camera, a Saudi man waved the green, sword-emblazoned Saudi flag in one hand and his green passport in another, declaring: "This is the strongest passport in the world."
Writing in the private newspaper Okaz, columnist Abdo Khal said Saudi Arabia's relatively speedy organisation of evacuation planes and boats highlighted the kingdom's "international value".
"Definitely this shows an eagerness by the Saudi kingdom to position itself as a central actor in regional crisis situations and to take advantage of the leverage it has over both sides of this conflict," said Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.
But Saudi officials are coming under pressure to do more than facilitate evacuations, given their close ties to the two generals whose troops are fighting it out in and beyond Khartoum.
"Saudi Arabia is a critical player in the ceasefire diplomacy in Sudan," Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
"African and Western governments are looking to Riyadh for help in convincing Sudan's military to give talks a chance."
China evacuates some citizens from Sudan: foreign ministry
Beijing (AFP) April 24, 2023 -
China has evacuated the first group of its citizens from conflict-hit Sudan, Beijing's foreign ministry said Monday.
It joins countries across the world, including in Asia, in racing to move foreign nationals to safety after army and paramilitary forces began clashing across Sudan, killing hundreds and causing acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel.
China says it is Sudan's largest trading partner, with over 130 companies investing there as of mid-2022.
Beijing's foreign ministry estimates more than 1,500 Chinese nationals are currently in Sudan.
The first group of Chinese citizens has been "safely evacuated", Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday, without giving a specific number.
Beijing will "try every means to protect the lives, properties and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan," senior foreign ministry official Wu Xi told state media on Sunday.
Rescue operations to extract foreigners from Sudan
Khartoum (AFP) April 24, 2023 -
Battles raging in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries have sparked multiple evacuation operations to rescue foreign citizens and diplomats by road, air and sea.
The main airport in the capital Khartoum has been the site of heavy clashes, effectively shutting its operations. Fighting elsewhere has forced delays to some planned rescue operations.
Many countries unable to send forces into Sudan relied on others to extract their citizens via ports and military bases, with Saudi Arabia and France both evacuating numerous foreigners.
Some evacuations are taking place from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, an 850-kilometre (530-mile) drive from Khartoum, and others via nearby Djibouti and neighbouring Egypt.
A UN convoy carrying 700 people completed on Monday the arduous trip to Port Sudan.
Here is an overview of what various nations have done in efforts to take stranded citizens to safety.
- Arab nations -
Saudi Arabia led the first reported successful evacuations on Saturday, with naval operations picking up more than 150 people, including nationals from other countries.
Egypt's military last week evacuated 177 soldiers, and on Sunday the foreign ministry said 436 citizens had left by land. More than 10,000 Egyptians are thought to live in Sudan.
Over 200 Moroccans were taken to Port Sudan in convoys organised by their embassy, Rabat said Monday, adding that they would be flown home from there.
Both Tunisia and Algeria have announced rescue operations.
Jordan -- whose military airports have been used for some rescue flights -- said Saturday it had begun the evacuation of around 300 citizens with Saudi and UAE cooperation, while 52 Lebanese and 105 Libyans had also left on a Saudi naval vessel.
- US and Canada -
On Sunday, the US military sent three Chinook helicopters to evacuate American embassy staff from Khartoum, staying on the ground for less than an hour and extracting just under 100 people.
US officials have warned any wider effort to evacuate other Americans who remain is unlikely in the coming days.
But on Monday the Pentagon said it is providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to help the State Department identify potential land routes out of the country.
It has also positioned a destroyer off the coast of Port Sudan in case it is needed to transport American citizens or provide medical care.
Canada has pulled its embassy staff out, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
- Britain, Norway, Switzerland -
The British military has evacuated embassy staff. Some British citizens still trapped in Sudan complained they felt abandoned.
The Norwegian ambassador said he and other Norwegian diplomats had also been evacuated, while Switzerland said 12 citizens had left with the help of other countries.
- European Union nations -
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that 1,000 EU citizens had been evacuated.
France has airlifted 400 people of multiple nationalities to Djibouti.
Amsterdam said it had sent two planes to fly out its nationals to Jordan.
Italy evacuated around 200 people in a military operation Sunday, rescuing all Italian citizens who "had asked to leave" and others including Vatican representatives.
Berlin said Monday three flights had left and a fourth was on its way to airlift a total of 400 people including other nationalities.
Austria, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria said their citizens have been evacuated with foreign assistance. Around 65 people from those countries -- nearly half of them Austrian -- were still awaiting rescue.
A Spanish military plane with 100 passengers, 30 of them Spanish, left Sunday for Djibouti, Madrid said.
Finland said Monday it had evacuated 10 people so far.
- Turkey -
Ankara began operations on Sunday, taking some of its estimated 600 nationals by road from Khartoum and the city of Wad Madani.
But plans were postponed from one site in Khartoum after "explosions" near a mosque designated as the assembly area, the embassy said.
- African nations -
Chad said it was sending planes to collect 438 citizens who are leaving Khartoum by bus for Port Sudan.
Mauritania said 101 citizens also reached Port Sudan before heading on a Saudi naval vessel to Jeddah.
Uganda has evacuated more than 200 of its nationals on buses via Ethiopia, its ambassador told AFP.
Ivory Coast said 47 of its citizens were headed by bus from Khartoum to Cairo.
Nigeria plans to get nearly 3,000 of its nationals, mostly students, out by convoy to Egypt this week, a top official said Monday.
South Africa has begun evacuating dozens of its citizens including embassy staff "to a neighbouring country for safety", foreign affairs spokesman Clayson Monyela told AFP.
- Asia -
China said Monday it had "safely evacuated" a first group of citizens, with the foreign ministry estimating about 1,500 "Chinese compatriots" are in Sudan.
Delhi said on Monday "about 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan. More on their way."
A plane carrying 28 South Koreans including diplomats arrived in Jeddah on Monday, a Saudi official said.
Indonesia had moved 538 nationals from Khartoum to Port Sudan, with another group of 289 due to travel in a second phase.
The Philippines said Monday it would begin evacuating nearly 700 Filipinos "within the next 24 hours" on buses to Egypt.
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