Turkish nationals to be evacuated from Sudan soon
Ankara, The Gulf Observer: Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has discussed the evacuation of Turkish nationals with his acting counterpart in Sudan, which should take place in the coming hours, according to an announcement by the ministry.
“The issue of ensuring that our citizens in Sudan can safely leave the country and return to their homeland was brought to the agenda by our President and Minister, in their contacts with their Sudanese counterparts and in meetings with some third countries,” the ministry said earlier on Saturday.
“The necessary preparations were carried out in coordination by our Khartoum Embassy and our Ministry.”
According to Anadolu news agency, Cavusoglu held a phone call with his acting counterpart from Sudan, Ali al-Sadiq, to address the evacuation of Turkish nationals.
In a separate social media post, the Turkish embassy in Khartoum advised citizens of Türkiye to gather at three designated locations for the possible evacuation.
As of Sunday, the clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group, RSF – which just entered their second week – have killed more than 400 people and left thousands wounded, according to the World Health Organization.
Those who are trapped in the capital are coping with shortages of electricity and food, as well as a reported internet outage.
The development comes after the US troops announced they are carrying out a precarious evacuation of American embassy staffers in the African nation of Sudan, shuttering the US embassy there as fighting rages for a ninth day, according to a senior Biden administration official.
US troops safely left Sudanese airspace after airlifting American embassy personnel out of the capital, Khartoum, a second US official confirmed.
President Joe Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier on Saturday from his national security team with no end in sight to the fighting, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the mission.
The evacuation order was believed to apply to about 70 Americans.The US State Department has suspended operations at the embassy due to the dire security situation.
