21 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The United States Government has confirmed the deployment of US troops in Sudan as a preliminary measure to facilitate a possible and eventual evacuation of Embassy personnel in the country.
“The Department of Defense, through Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities in close proximity to the region for related contingency purposes. with the security and the possible facilitation of the departure of the personnel of the US Embassy from Sudan, if the circumstances require it,” reads a statement published this Thursday by the agency.
The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, did not confirm during a press conference if the United States plans to evacuate Embassy personnel soon: “The Pentagon announced that they are moving forward to position some military forces for contingency purposes only, in case they were necessary for any kind of evacuation. But no decision has been made on that.”
Regarding the non-diplomatic civilians of US nationality who are still in Sudan, Kirby has confirmed that they are located and taking refuge in the place where they are, although he has affirmed that they are working to be able to gather them all in the same location and thus be able to better guarantee your safety.
In turn, the Department of State, through the deputy spokesman, Vedant Patel, has highlighted that “the way in which Embassy personnel and private American citizens are evacuated are carried out differently.”
“Khartoum International Airport and Sudan’s border with Chad are closed. And due to the unfortunate, uncertain and very fluid security situation in Khartoum, and again due to the closure of the airport, it is not safe to undertake a coordinated evacuation by the US government of private US citizens at this time,” he added.
The death toll from the fighting that broke out on Saturday in Sudan between the Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has risen to more than 330 dead and nearly 3,200 injured, according to data from the World Health Organization. (WHO).
The hostilities broke out on Saturday in the context of an increase in tensions around the reform of the security apparatus and the integration of the paramilitary force — led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’, who is also vice president of the Sovereign Council of Transition– within the Armed Forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and reactivate the transition.
The talks process began with international mediation after the head of the Army and president of the Sovereign Transition Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that overthrew the then prime minister of unity, Abdalá Hamdok, appointed to the position as a result of contacts between civilians and the military after the April 2019 riot, which ended 30 years of the regime of Omar Hasan al Bashir.
