President Joe Biden announced on Saturday that the U.S. military had evacuated American diplomats and their families from Khartoum.
“Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract U.S. government personnel from Khartoum,” Biden said.
Additionally, he said that Washington has temporarily suspended its diplomatic presence in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum.
According to a U.S. official, less than 100 people were evacuated early on Sunday when three Chinook helicopters landed nearby the U.S. embassy to pick them up.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the decision to withdraw all staff and halt diplomatic operations was due to “serious and growing security risks” brought on by the conflict between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization. The U.S. Embassy’s operations in the country’s capital, Khartoum, have been put on hold.
Fears of a more significant conflict in the Horn of Africa have grown due to the ongoing fighting between the two sides for more than a week. According to the United Nations, the violence has caused at least 400 deaths and 3,500 injuries. There have been at least 256 civilians have been killed.
On Saturday, the Sudanese Army announced that additional countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and China, would evacuate their embassies and citizens amid armed warfare between opposing factions.
