U.S. personnel ordered to evacuate Sudan amid violence
[객원 에디터 5기 / 민찬홍 기자] On April 22nd, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that American military personnel based in Sudan have been ordered to evacuate the country. Over 100 special operations forces carried out the process in close coordination with the U.S. and a handful of other countries. In turn, Biden expressed gratitude to several countries that “were critical to the success of [the U.S.] operation” to bring to safety American troops from the dangers of the ongoing conflict in Sudan that has already resulted in hundreds of deaths.
The violence first began after two warring factions under the direction of two rival Sudanese generals broke out earlier this month. The two factions were initially allies and had worked together to dethrone dictator Omar al-Bashir back in 2009. Nonetheless, the critical decision over which general will subordinate the other produced heavy fighting, which has remained largely uncontained despite multiple ceasefires having been called. According to the World Health Organization, at least 420 people have died so far, including one American citizen, prompting immediate action from several countries to evacuate their own citizens.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked “allies and partners, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia” for contributing to the evacuation’s success. Approximately 100 people were evacuated from the U.S. embassy, including Marines and foreign diplomatic professionals. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee further disclosed that the U.S. is currently “in close contact with Sudan’s military and civilian leaders” additionally praising countries who assisted the evacuation.
Currently, a myriad of different countries are working towards similar evacuation operations for their government personnel and citizens. The governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K, Spain, and Russia, and more countries have already evacuated all government personnel from Sudan, while India, Lebanon, South Korea, and Japan had evacuated their citizens. The Rapid Support Forces of Sudan have indicated their willingness to allow all friendly countries to use local airports safely for evacuation missions, facilitating the effort to safely carry out these operations.
Though multiple U.S. officials have indicated that they would continue to attempt to mark an end to the violence in Sudan, the failure to reach a prolonged ceasefire during the Eid al-Fitr holiday projects a bleak and uncertain future for Sudan.
Sources: CBS News, CNN
