PM Kishida: Japan evacuated 45 nationals and their spouses from Sudan, and temporarily closed embassy

Report from the Guardian's Live Reporting 19h ago

Tuesday 26 April 2023 00.24 BST - full copy with image:

Here is more detail on Japan’s evacuations so far.

Japan has evacuated 45 nationals and their spouses from Sudan, and temporarily closed its embassy, prime minister Fumio Kishida and officials said Tuesday.

“A total of 45 people took off from eastern Sudan for Djibouti in the C2 transport aircraft dispatched” by Japanese troops, Kishida told reporters in the early hours of Tuesday.

Members of Japan's Air self-defence Force board a C-130 transport plane leaving for Djibouti to prepare the evacuation of Japanese citizens from Sudan, at Komaki airbase in Japan, 21 April 2023.

 Photograph: Jiji Press/EPA

He said four other Japanese had also been able to move from Sudan to Djibouti and Ethiopia with help from France and international organisations.

A few hours later, Japan’s foreign minister said in a statement that the embassy was now temporarily closed after staff were evacuated.

Japan had said it had roughly 60 citizens in Sudan when it decided to evacuate them.

The foreign ministry will set up a liaison office in Djibouti to continue helping remaining Japanese in Sudan to evacuate, it said.

View the original, with thanks to the Guardian, here.

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