Showing posts with label US Embassy in Khartoum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Embassy in Khartoum. Show all posts

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Fleeing Sudan, diplomats shredded locals' passports

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: One would hope passports are treated as respectfully as a nation's flag. You don't shred a nation's flag without it being interpreted as a terrible insult. This article doesn't make clear whether the passports destroyed by the US were in fact US passports. If not, it seems to me the passports were not their property to destroy. They should have left them behind safely. A country's border is man made. In today's age of digital technology losing a passport should not be a matter of life or death.

As rightly stated in the articleA passport is a “precious and lifesaving piece of property,” said Tom Malinowski, a former congressman from New Jersey who helped stranded Afghans in 2021. “It’s a big deal to destroy something like that, and when we do we have an obligation to make that person whole.” 

Let's hope priority is given to replacing all passports wrongfully destroyed.
____________________________

Report at The New York Times
By Declan Walsh
Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya
Edward Wong contributed reporting.
Dated Friday 19 May 2023 - full copy:

Fleeing Sudan, U.S. Diplomats Shredded Passports and Stranded Locals


Officials destroyed Sudanese passports on security grounds as they evacuated the Khartoum embassy. Now the passport owners are trapped in a war zone.

Image Sudanese army soldiers guard a checkpoint in Khartoum on Thursday. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


In the frantic days before American diplomats evacuated their Khartoum embassy under darkness by helicopter last month, one crucial task remained.


Armed with shredders, sledgehammers and gasoline, American officials, following  government protocols, destroyed classified documents and sensitive equipment, officials and eyewitnesses said. By the time Chinook helicopters carrying commandos landed beside the embassy just after midnight on April 23, sacks of shredded paper lined the embassy’s four floors.


But the piles also contained paperwork precious to Sudanese citizens — their passports. Many had left them at the embassy days earlier, to apply for American visas. Some belonged to local staff members. As the embassy evacuated, officials who feared the passports, along with other important papers, might fall into the wrong hands reduced them to confetti.


A month later, many of those Sudanese are stranded in the war zone, unable to get out.


“I can hear the warplanes and the bombing from my window,” Selma Ali, an engineer who submitted her passport to the U.S. Embassy three days before the war erupted, said over a crackling line from her home in Khartoum. “I’m trapped here with no way out.” 


It wasn’t only the Americans: Many other countries also stranded Sudanese visa applicants when their diplomats evacuated, a source of furious recriminations from Sudanese on social media. But most of those countries did not destroy the passports, instead leaving them locked inside shuttered embassies  — inaccessible, but not gone forever.


Of eight other countries that answered questions about the evacuation, only France said it had also destroyed the passports of visa applicants on security grounds.

Image The US Embassy in Khartoum in 2017. Credit Ashraf Shazly/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


The U.S. State Department confirmed it had destroyed passports but declined to say how many. “It is standard operating procedure during these types of situations to take precautions to not leave behind any documents, materials, or information that could fall into the wrong hands and be misused,” said a spokeswoman who asked not to be named under State Department policy.


“Because the security environment did not allow us to safely return those passports,” she added, “we followed our procedure to destroy them rather than leave them behind unsecured.”


Ms. Ali, 39, had hoped to fly to Chicago this month to attend a training course, and from there to Vienna to start work with a U.N. organization. “My dream job,” she said. Instead, she is confined with her parents to a house on the outskirts of the capital, praying the fighting will not reach them.


Violence in Sudan


Fighting between two military factions has thrown Sudan into chaos, with plans for a transition to a civilian-led democracy now in shambles.


“I’m so frustrated,” she said, her voice quivering. “The U.S. diplomats evacuated their own citizens but they didn’t think of the Sudanese. We are human, too.”


Alhaj Sharafeldin, 26, said he had been accepted for a master’s in computer science at Iowa State University, and supposed to collect his passport and visa on April 16. A day earlier, the fighting broke out.


Five days ago the U.S. embassy notified him by email that his passport had been destroyed. “This is tough,” he said, speaking from the house where he has sheltered since violence engulfed his own neighborhood. “The situation is so dangerous here.”

Image Alhaj Sharafeldin


The decision to destroy passports was gut-wrenching for American officials who realized it would hinder Sudanese citizens from fleeing, said several witnesses and officials familiar with the evacuation.


Particularly distressing was the fact that the passports of Sudanese staff members were also destroyed. Some had applied for United States  government training courses; others had left their passports in the embassy for safekeeping.


“There was a lot of very upset people about this,” said one U.S. official who, like several others, spoke on the basis of anonymity to discuss a sensitive episode. “We left behind a lot of people who were loyal to us, and we were not loyal to them.”


But the officials were following the same protocol that led to the destruction of many Afghan passports during the hasty evacuation from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, in August 2021, which was also a source of controversy.


Then, Afghans deprived of their passports could at least apply to the Taliban for a new one. But that option is impossible in Sudan because the country’s main  passport  office is in a neighborhood experiencing some of the fiercest battles.

Image American nationals arriving last month for evacuation in Port Sudan. Credit Reuters


Given those circumstances, angry Sudanese question why evacuating U.S. officials could not  have carried their passports with them. “Couldn’t they have just put the passports in a bag?” Ms. Ali said.


A passport is a “precious and lifesaving piece of property,” said Tom Malinowski, a former congressman from New Jersey who helped stranded Afghans in 2021. “It’s a big deal to destroy something like that, and when we do we have an obligation to make that person whole.”


In interviews, foreign diplomats said it was practically impossible to operate in Khartoum after the first shots were fired on April 15, when clashes between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group, quickly spiraled into a full-blown war.


Warplanes zoomed over the Khartoum district including most foreign embassies, dropping bombs. R.S.F. fighters rushed into the streets, firing back. Stray bombs and bullets hit embassies and residences, making it too dangerous to even reach an office, much less hand out passports, officials said.


Still, Sudanese critics said the embassies could have tried harder — especially as they poured so much effort into evacuating their own citizens. Military planes from Britain, France, Germany and Turkey flew out thousands of people from Khartoum. Armed U.S. drones watched over buses carrying Americans as they traveled to Port Sudan, a journey of 525 miles.


Sudanese visa applicants who asked for help at foreign embassies holding their passports say they were met with obfuscation, silence or unhelpful advice like being told to get a new passport.


“There are no authorities in Sudan now,” said Mohamed Salah, whose passport is at the Indian Embassy. “Just war.” 

Image Mohamed Salah


One country did, however, provide some relief. Two weeks into the war, the Chinese Embassy posted a phone number online for visa applicants to retrieve passports.


The American Embassy, a sprawling compound by the Nile in southern Khartoum, was miles from the most intense fighting. Even so, officials worried that it would get cut off from critical supplies. So they began destroying sensitive material five days before President Biden formally ordered an evacuation on April 21, in scenes that one witness compared to the beginning of the movie “Argo.”


Classified and sensitive documents were fed into shredders that chomped them up and spat out tiny pieces. Officials wielding sledgehammers crushed electronics and an emergency passport machine. Burn pits glowed at the rear of the embassy.


The destruction grew more frenetic as the evacuation neared. Officials appealed over the embassy loudspeaker for help with shredding. Finally, a few hours before Chinooks landed in a field between the embassy and the Nile, throwing up clouds of blinding dust, U.S. Marines lowered the flag outside the embassy.


At the same time, other embassies were also in “full shred mode,” as one diplomat put it. A European ambassador said he personally smashed his official seal.


It is not clear if embassies that didn’t destroy passports made that choice or simply didn’t have enough time.


No government has said how many Sudanese passports it destroyed or left in shuttered embassies.


No One Left Behind, a nonprofit that helps Afghan military interpreters, estimated that several thousand passports were burned during the U.S. evacuation from Kabul in 2021, said Catalina Gasper, the group’s chief operating officer.

IMAGE A man waves folders with documents at U.S. Marines as they secure the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 2021. Credit Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times


Fighting has surged in recent days, despite American- and Saudi-led efforts to broker a cease-fire. With little prospect of an immediate return to Khartoum, foreign diplomats say they are offering to help visa applicants left behind.


The Dutch Foreign Ministry said in response to questions that it was in “active contact” with affected people. The Spanish advised them to “obtain another travel document.” The Indians said they were unable to access their premises.


“The embassy area is still an intense fighting zone,” an Indian diplomat wrote.


Some people did manage to flee without passports. An official from France, which evacuated about 1,000 people from 41 countries, said people without papers were allowed to fly because officials knew that “their administrative situation would be resolved later.”


That option was not available to most Sudanese.


Mahir Elfiel, a development worker marooned in Wadi Halfa, 20 miles from the border with Egypt, said the Spanish Embassy hadn’t even responded to emails about his passport. “They just ignored me,” he said. (Others made similar complaints.)

Image Mahir Elfiel


There was at least one solution: Local officials were helping stranded people cross the border by extending their old, expired passports with handwritten notes. But Mr. Elfiel’s previous passport was stowed at his office back in Khartoum.


It presented a dilemma: return to the war zone and risk his life, or linger in Wadi Halfa until the fighting eases.


“I don’t have any options, really,” he said. “I’m just waiting.” 

Image Smoke billowing in Khartoum on Wednesday. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.


Declan Walsh is the chief Africa correspondent for The Times. He was previously based in Egypt, covering the Middle East, and in Pakistan. He previously worked at The Guardian and is the author of “The Nine Lives of Pakistan.” @declanwalsh


A version of this article appears in print on May 20, 2023, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Fleeing Envoys Trap Sudanese In a War Zone.


- A Rescue Operation: As feuding generals turned Karthoum into a war zone, two university students navigated a battered Toyota through the chaos and saved at least 60 desperate people.


- Fleeing Sudan: The violence has driven thousands of Sudanese into neighboring countries and caused an exodus of diplomats and other foreigners who were in Sudan when violence erupted.


- A Safe Haven, for Now: Egypt has relaxed border controls for Sudanese arrivals since the outbreak of the fighting. But officials, expecting busloads of poorer refugees to follow, worry about what comes next.


- A Failed Test: As the crisis in Sudan creates the kind of power vacuum that the United States had hoped to avoid, critics of the Biden administration are blaming a naïve approach to foreign policy for the violence.


View original: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/world/africa/sudan-us-embassy-passports.html


COMMENTS POSTED AT ARTICLE ABOVE

Sort by: Newest

San Diego

May 20

So the Chinese Embassy retained and protected the passports they held for Sudanese.  We did not.  Two thumbs up for the Chinese.  One down for us.  Reflects our cavalier attitude.

123 Recommend

Rhode Island

May 20

Horrifying, and should be prosecuted, but of course never will. It was not U.S. property to destroy.

76 Recommend

NJ

May 20

It was my understanding, from NYT reporting, that American dual citizens were given quite ample notice to leave ASAP and that some, having various family and financial connections to the country decided to stay:  if that truly is the case, then sadly, this is on them, not the embassy staff.

35 Recommend

USA

May 20

Frankly, I don’t know why these people waited so long to leave the country

21 Recommend

SFNM

May 20

Gut wrenching. Have we learned nothing?

20 Recommend

New Delhi

May 20

The State Department abandoned U.S. citizens in Sudan while crowing about getting their own folks out. No surprise that they shredded the safety of so many Sudanese who put their faith in the power and fairness of the United States. We have lost the trust of the world in so many ways large and small. We could have made better choices.

72 Recommend

Living In Mexico

May 19

Sounds like there need to be changes to these protocols so that certain items, including the passports of non-US citizens, get taken with evacuated diplomats. I get that there’s only so much room on a Chinook. But it should be possible to calculate what is practical and design suitable emergency protocols. This has already happened at least twice and it will happen again.


On a more practical note, does Sudan still have embassies in the US, in DC and at the UN in NY? If so they could reissue passports and people approved for travel to the US could pick them up when they get here. It sounds like the numbers involved are small enough for this to be a real solution to this specific problem.

135 Recommend

North America

May 19

With the technology available, it should not be necessary to take people’s actual passports away from them.  These people came to us for help and we made things more difficult for them.

140 Recommend

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james commented

May 20

@Bwspmn 

Set a blame in the US why don’t you blame the warlords that are tearing the country apart?

30 Recommend

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Philadelphia, PA

May 19

It seems highly unlikely that the details of visa applicants were not routinely sent to the home country for review, so each country should at least have been able to generate a list of people it had a moral responsibility to rescue.

49 Recommend

Boston

May 19

Having the passports fall into the wrong hands, to be misused by the wrong persons for travel to the US or other countries, would be an ongoing security risk. There could also be danger or persecution of persons who were identified as having relations with the US, so destroying the passports does make some sense. How much better to have scanned them and then taken the physical documents when evacuating. What more important items could there be when getting people to safety?

75 Recommend

Friday, April 28, 2023

Sudan's Islamists use online networks and AI to make their move. Waiting to return is ex NISS chief Gosh

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: It's good to see veteran Africa correspondent Rob Crilly reporting on Sudan again. Sometime before during and after the Darfur war, Rob wrote a book cleverly titled 'Saving Darfur: Everyone's Favourite African War'. The book became well known, sold well and is still available from leading book sellers including on Kindle at Amazon.  


Here below is a summary of Rob's latest report on Sudan for the Daily Mail, followed by a copy in full. Thanks Rob, good to see you back safe and sound!

Sudan's Islamists use online networks and AI to make their move

Waiting in the wings to return are notorious figures such as Salah Gosh, former head of NISS

Social media research shows Sudan's Islamists making a push for power

It includes using AI to fake an address by the U.S. ambassador, researchers say

They are seeking a return to relevance amid fighting between rival generals 

On Sunday, US special forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the US Embassy in Sudan

Images of foreigners fleeing are being used by Islamists to say they are winning the war against the West, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan when Americans fled in 2021

The fighting pitches army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who has allied himself with the country's Islamists, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) who heads the Rapid Support Forces

While Hemedti, who rose to prominence amid the war crimes of Darfur, claims to promote democracy, Burhan has linked up with Islamists as part of his strategy to emerge as victor

‘He basically made a deal with the devil,' said Cameron Hudson, senior associate in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies'

'And that deal was: I will allow you to reemerge and to regain a foothold in this country, and you have to support me politically and use your networks and your, your deep state influence to support me against the RFS 

Waiting in the wings to return in the event of an army victory, he said, were notorious figures such as Salah Gosh, the former leader of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service.

Read the full report from DailyMail.com


By ROB CRILLY, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM


Published: 21:09, 27 April 2023 | Updated: 21:49, 27 April 2023 - excerpts:


EXCLUSIVE Sudan's Islamists use online networks and AI to make their move: Social media accounts spread claims hardliners will seize power as democracy leaders flee during Western evacuation just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan


Sudan's Islamists are out of favor and out of power after once being the force behind the country's military rulers. 


But they are now using sophisticated social media networks and AI to try to worm their way back to a position of influence amid the country's turmoil. 


Sudan's top two military leaders have spent most of the past two weeks fighting for control of Africa's third largest nation, prompting the U.S. and other foreign nations to evacuate diplomats and nationals.


Islamist groups are using those images to claim that the West is in retreat and they are poised for victory, just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to research by a social media monitoring group.


Their online networks have even used AI technology to spread fake audio recordings suggesting the U.S. was trying to reduce the influence of Islam on the country.


Islamists are using a sophisticated social media operation to gain influence in Sudan. That includes using AI to fake a plot by US Ambassador John Godfrey to intervene in the country


Amil Khan, founder of Valent Projects which researches the impact of social media, said Islamists had a powerful network of accounts spreading images of Western-led evacuations, and of civilian leaders taking flights out of Khartoum.


'They're opportunistically then using that to say this is Western collapse, and linking it to Kabul allows them to try to paint themselves as victors in the same way that they see the Taliban,' he said.


'It reflects messaging around the word that the Taliban have won the US. The US left in disarray. 


'The Islamists are trying to say that we are the people that conquered them.' 


In their heyday, Sudan's Islamists turned the nation into a haven for terrorists. Osama bin Laden made his home in the capital Khartoum from 1991 to 1996. 


Khan said that although they had lost influence following the toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, they had built a powerful online presence.   


'What they did have was this really extensive manipulation-digital infrastructure with hundreds and hundreds of mass accounts that could just get a coordinated message out and dominate the digital space,' he said.


At the same time, they were claiming that fleeing Sudanese leaders were leaving with their foreign paymasters — all part of an effort to undermine the popularity of civilian rule. 


But he added there was little evidence that Sudan's weary population was being swayed by such blatant propaganda. 


Even so, Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret who sits on the House intelligence committee, said the development was deeply worrying.


'It’s absolutely a concern and we're going to lose even more visibility and intelligence gathering now that the State Department has had to pull its embassy staff,' he said.


Social media messages have celebrated the exit of former foreign minister Omar Qamar al-Din, for example.


'This is how the clients are falling one after the other,' said a post reviewed by DailyMail.com, comparing his early morning exit with the flight of officials from the Western-backed government in Kabul in 2021 as Taliban forces closed in on the Afghan capital.


Valent also concluded that Islamist accounts were behind a faked audio message supposedly from US Ambassador John Godfrey, apparently outlining strategies to impose secularism on Sudan.


'The first is international intervention with military force and imposing a new reality on this people by force of arms. This is now excluded in light of the weak world order,' the faked voice says.


'As for the other option, support us in the process of subjugating the rapid support militias and exploiting the two brothers greed for power and using them as a deterrent force and guardian of the secular democratic state, no matter how brutal it may be.'


Western governments used a ceasefire this week to bring home their diplomats and rescue as many nationals as possible.


It came after the troubled African nation was plunged into violence, two years after a coup sidelined its civilian prime minister.


Talks to lead the country back to civilian rule appeared to reach an agreement in December, but hopes of a peaceful transition were dashed by fighting that erupted two weeks ago between the head of the army and the head of the Rapid Support Force (RSF). 


RSF chief Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) had been deputy to General Abdel Fattah Burhan, until the two fell out over plans to integrate his militia into the army.


Witnesses have described seeing bodies on the streets of the capital and more than 500 people have been killed around the country. 


While Hemedti, who rose to prominence amid the war crimes of Darfur, claims to promote democracy, Burhan has linked up with Islamists as part of his strategy to emerge as victor.


'He basically made a deal with the devil,' said Cameron Hudson, senior associate in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies'. 


'And that deal was: I will allow you to reemerge and to regain a foothold in this country, and you have to support me politically and use your networks and your, your deep state influence to support me against the RFS 


Waiting in the wings to return in the event of an army victory, he said, were notorious figures such as Salah Gosh, the former leader of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service.


'We know what their rule of the country looked like,' he said. 'And these are bad dudes. 


'These are these are all the guys that were responsible for all of the worst abuses of the Bashir regime.'


See gallery of 11 photos (including 5 above) with credits and these captions:

  1. Shells are seen on the ground near damaged buildings at the central market during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North 
  2. Islamists helped propel an army colonel to power in 1989. They were the power behind the throne under Omar al-Bashir's reign, until he was dumped out of power in 2019
  3. Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pose for a picture at the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) base in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan
  4. VIDEO Sudan doctor fears hospital will run out of medical supplies
  5. Islamists are using a sophisticated social media operation to gain influence in Sudan. That includes using AI to fake a plot by US Ambassador John Godfrey to intervene in the country
  6. Sudan's capital Khartoum has been rocked by two weeks of fighting between rival generals. Smoke can be seen her rising from the city's international airport last week
  7. On Sunday, U.S. special forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Sudan. Images of foreigners fleeing are being used by Islamists to say they are winning the war against the West, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan when Americans fled in 2021
  8. Pictured: British Nationals about to board an RAF aircraft in Sudan, for evacuation to Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus
  9. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan
  10. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo

View the original report plus video and photo gallery here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12021059/Sudans-Islamists-use-online-networks-say-seize-power-like-Taliban-did-Kabul.html


[Ends]

- - -


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Africa is a continent riddled with conflict. Most are forgotten wars that rumble away unnoticed for decades. Darfur is different. For six years an unlikely coalition of the religious right, the liberal left and a smattering of celebrities has kept Darfur's bloody conflict in the headlines. Rob Crilly arrived in Sudan in 2005 to find out what made Darfur special. 


Far from being a simple clash of good and evil, he discovers the complicated truth about Arabs and Africans, and the world's failed attempts to halt the killing. Along the way he rides with rebels on donkeys, gets caught in a Janjaweed attack and learns lessons from Osama bin Laden's horse. What he found will turn your understanding of the war upside down.


Product description 

Review

'A haunting and brutally honest account of international failure and African suffering. Lucid, engaging and written with love for the entire continent of Africa.' --Fergal Keane, BBC News


Rob Crilly tells the story of Darfur up close, focusing on the people who have fought and suffered. Neither cynical nor moralizing, he brings to life its protagonists-rebel fighters, Arab militiamen, displaced villagers, foreign aid workers, diplomats and campaigners. Saving Darfur delves beneath the stereotypes to tackle the complexities of Darfur and Sudan, illuminating both the ordinariness and the bizarreness of this extraordinary African war.' --Alex De Waal, author of 'Darfur: A New History of a Long War'


'While I disagree with much of Mr Crilly's analysis, he provides us with a solid journalistic account of his first-hand experiences in Darfur.' --Mia Farrow, actress and activist

From the Inside Flap

`A haunting and brutally honest account of international failure and African suffering' - Fergal Keane, BBC News

From the Back Cover

'A haunting and brutally honest account of international failure and African suffering' - Fergal Keane, BBC News

'Rob Crilly tells the story of Darfur up close, focusing on the people who have fought and suffered' - Alex de Waal, author of Darfur: A New History of a Long War

'This books peels off the labels that have been stuck on Darfur by outsiders and exposes the stubborn realities beneath the surface' - Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society

About the Author

Rob Crilly is a freelance foreign correspondent. For five years he lived and worked in East Africa, travelling through war zones in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda, reporting for The Times, The Irish Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Mail and The Scotsman. Born in 1973, he was educated at the Judd School, Tonbridge, and Cambridge University. Before moving to Africa he spent five years working for British newspapers, most recently as Edinburgh Bureau Chief of The Herald.

View original https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saving-Darfur-Everyones-Favourite-African/dp/1906702195

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Sunday, April 23, 2023

British diplomats evacuated from Sudan by 1,200 personnel Air Assault Brigade, Royal Marines, RAF

Breaking news from BBC News UK

By Antoinette Radford

Sunday 23 April 2023 c.13:40 - full copy

British diplomats evacuated from Sudan

British diplomats and their families have been evacuated from Sudan in a "complex and rapid" operation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed. 

Mr Sunak said work was continuing to ensure the safety of British nationals who remain in Sudan.

The evacuees were taken to an airfield outside of Khartoum to fly out of the country overnight, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC.

Fierce violence erupted last week in Khartoum between two opposing forces.

The power struggle between Sudan's regular army and a paramilitary force called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has seen deadly shooting and shelling in the capital city.

Foreign Minister James Cleverly added that the government was working "around the clock to broker international support to end the bloodshed in Sudan." 

Mr Wallace also thanked France and the United States for their assistance in the operation in an interview with the BBC. 

He said the operation involved more than 1,200 British personnel from the Air Assault Brigade, Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force.

The UK's move follows the evacuation of US diplomats in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Fewer than 100 people were evacuated when three Chinook helicopters landed near the US embassy to collect them.

Several other countries including France, the Netherlands and Italy have also begun evacuating citizens from Sudan. 

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts.

Updated versions here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65367019

US embassy staff evacuated from Sudan amid fierce fighting (Sky News). RSF says US diplomats, families evacuated via coordination with US forces (Reuters)

Report from Sky News

Sunday 23 April 2023 03:07, UK - full copy:


US embassy staff evacuated from Sudan amid fierce fighting


US troops have carried out an evacuation of American embassy staff from Sudan's capital Khartoum as fighting rages for a ninth day, according to a senior White House official.


View original: https://news.sky.com/story/us-embassy-staff-evacuated-from-sudan-amid-fierce-fighting-12863980


[Ends]

_______________________________________________________________________


Reuters report also here


Report from Haaretz.com 

By Reuters [unverified]

Sunday 23 April 2023 03AM - full copy:


Sudan’s RSF says US diplomats, families evacuated via coordination with US forces


CAIRO, April 23 (Reuters) - Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said early on Sunday that a US forces mission consisting of six aircraft had evacuated US diplomats and their families from the country.


The operation was carried out through coordination with the RSF, it added.


(Reporting by Moaz-Alaziz and Mohamed Al Gebaly in Cairo; editing by Jonathan Oatis)


View original: https://www.msn.com/he-il/news/other/sudans-rsf-says-us-diplomats-families-evacuated-via-coordination-with-us-forces/ar-AA1acbfk 


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_______________________________________________________________________


Report from CBS News

Story by Sophia Barkoff

Saturday 22 April 2023 8:52 PM - excerpts:


U.S. government personnel evacuated from Sudan


The details of the mission and the exact number of people evacuated was unclear. The Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) tweeted that the US military used six plained to conduct the evacuations early Sunday morning. It was unconfirmed if diplomats from other nations were included. [...]


A U.S. diplomatic convoy flying the American flag was fired upon Monday while security attempted to bring Americans back to the compound. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it a “reckless” and “irresponsible” act, and said that forces aligned with RSF  - a paramilitary group led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo - had likely taken the shots. […]

Full story: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-government-personnel-in-sudan-to-be-evacuated-sources-say/ar-AA1acfUV


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_______________________________________________________________________


Report from Aljazeera.com
Sunday 23 April 2023 - excerpt:

US diplomats, families evacuated from war-torn Sudan, RSF says

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces claims that it coordinated the evacuation with US forces on Sunday. [...]


A US official confirmed to the Associated Press that US forces safely left Sudanese airspace after airlifting the embassy personnel out of the capital, Khartoum.


[Ends]
_______________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: 
SUNDAY 23 APRIL 2023 04:15 GMT UK 
REPORT FROM THE BBC HAS UPDATED ITS REPORT TO SAY:

The US military has evacuated American diplomats and their families from Khartoum, President Joe Biden has said.

"Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum," he said in a statement.

Earlier Sudan's paramilitary army Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said six aircraft were used in Sunday's early morning mission, and that it had co-ordinated the evacuation with the US.

President Biden has not given details.

It is not clear how many people were airlifted. Mr Biden's statement said "we are temporarily suspending operations at the US embassy in Sudan".

He also thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, saying they had been "critical to the success of our operation".


View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65363586


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