(Reuters) – The U.S. military evacuated American diplomats and their families from Sudan, the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said early on Sunday as fighting between rival commanders that has killed hundreds of civilians continued.
The operation, involving six aircraft, was carried out in coordination with the RSF, it said.
Separately, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters the U.S. military had successfully evacuated U.S. embassy personnel. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other foreign nationals began evacuating from a Red Sea port in Sudan on Saturday.
The bloody onslaught of urban warfare has trapped large numbers in the Sudanese capital, disabling the airport and rendering some roads impassable.
The United Nations and foreign states have urged rival military leaders to honour declared ceasefires that have mostly been ignored, and to open safe passage for fleeing civilians and the supply of badly needed aid.
With the airport closed and skies unsafe, thousands of foreigners – including embassy staff, aid workers and students in Khartoum and elsewhere in Africa’s third largest country – have also been unable to get out.
Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 650 km (400 miles) from Khartoum. Jordan will use the same route for its nationals.
Western countries are expected to send planes for their citizens from Djibouti, though the Sudanese army has said airports in Khartoum and Darfur’s biggest city Nyala are problematic and it was not clear when that might be possible.
One foreign diplomat who asked not to be identified said some diplomatic staff in Khartoum were hoping for evacuation by air from Port Sudan in the next two days. The U.S. Embassy warned Americans that it could not assist convoys from Khartoum to Port Sudan and travel would be at individuals’ own risk.
The army, under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have so far failed to observe ceasefires agreed almost daily since hostilities broke out on April 15.
Saturday’s fighting breached what was meant to be a three-day truce from Friday to allow citizens to reach safety and visit family during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Both sides accused the other of not respecting the truce.
“I don’t have a problem with the ceasefire,” Hemedti told Al Arabiya TV late on Saturday. “They (the army) did not respect it. If they respect it, so will we.”
