Report from Alarabiya.net
By Reuters
Published: 22 April 2023: 02:07 AM GST
Updated: 22 April 2023: 02:42 AM GST
Top US, Sudanese generals discuss safety of Americans in call
PHOTO United States Army General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill on September 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. (AFP)
The top US general discussed the safety of Americans in Sudan during a phone call with Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on Friday, the Pentagon said, as Washington considers a possible embassy evacuation amid fighting in Sudan’s capital.
“The two leaders discussed the safety of Americans and the developing situation in Sudan,” said a statement from Army General Mark Milley’s office. Milley is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Forces commanded by two previously allied leaders of Sudan’s ruling council began a violent power struggle last weekend. Hundreds have died so far, and a nation reliant on food aid has been tipped into what the United Nations calls a humanitarian catastrophe.
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[…] Washington has said private American citizens in Sudan should have no expectation of a US government-coordinated evacuation. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the United States was in touch with several hundred American citizens understood to be in Sudan.
Earlier on Friday, the State Department confirmed the death of one US citizen in the country.
UN works to extract staff
Other countries and the United Nations are also looking at how they can evacuate citizens and employees.
The UN has been trying to extract staff from “very dangerous” zones in Sudan to move them to safer locations, the top UN aid official in Sudan, Abdou Dieng, said on Thursday. Dieng said he had been moved to a safer area on Wednesday.
The UN has about 4,000 staff in Sudan, of which 800 are international staff. A UN source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were a further 6,000 UN staff family members and associated personnel in Sudan.
Switzerland said on Friday it was examining ways to evacuate nationals from Sudan, and Sweden said it will evacuate embassy staff and families as soon as possible.
Spanish military aircraft are on standby and ready to evacuate some 60 Spanish nationals and others from Khartoum, and South Korea sent a military aircraft to stand by at a US military base in Djibouti to evacuate its nationals when possible.
View original: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/04/22/US-military-prepares-options-for-possible-Sudan-evacuation
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