Sudan allows evacuations of foreign nationals as fighting resumes between rival forces

Sudan’s de facto president, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has agreed to the evacuation of citizens and diplomatic representatives from the country.

A spokesman for the Sudanese Army said in a statement on Saturday that the United States, Britain, France, and China would begin the evacuation of their nationals from the capital Khartoum using military aircraft “in the coming hours.”

He said Al-Burhan has promised to facilitate the evacuation and to provide the countries with the necessary support to ensure the airlift of their citizens.

He added that a Saudi Arabian delegation has already been evacuated from the eastern city of Port Sudan while the Jordanian team was expected to leave Port Sudan later on Saturday.

The army has seized control of all airports in the country except those in Khartoum and the town of Njala in the South Darfur region, the president told Arabic television station Al-Arabiya.

READ ALSO: Stranded Nigerian students to remain in troubled Sudan as FG says evacuation not possible for now

Al-Burhan declared that he remained in control of the army and would only let his rival and former deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, get away “in a coffin.”

Daglo is the leader of the powerful paramilitary group RSF.

Fighting broke out in Sudan about a week ago between the country’s two most powerful generals and their respective military units.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed during the week that at least 413 people had been killed and more than 3,500 injured since the fighting began.

The airport in the capital has been at the centre of the fighting and was therefore inaccessible with diplomats trying to secure a resilient ceasefire for the evacuation of foreign citizens.

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