France evacuates 388 of 28 countries from Sudan, including Indians

NEW DELHI: As war rages intensified in Sudan, France on Monday evacuated 388 people from 28 countries, including Indian nationals.

Evacuation from the capital, Khartoum, has proved intensely dangerous since conflict erupted over the weekend between Sudan's military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, New York Times reported.

But after days hunkered inside their homes, often as battle rages in the streets outside, more Sudanese and foreign nationals have sought to flee the city of five million people.

"French evacuation operations are underway. Last night, two military flight rotations evacuated 388 people of 28 countries, including Indian nationals," tweeted the Embassy of France in India.

Millions of residents are trapped inside their homes, many running low on water and food after the eruption of fighting on April 15 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

It has triggered a humanitarian crisis, killing at least 420 people and leaving behind charred tanks, gutted buildings and shops that have been looted and torched, reported Al Jazeera. The WHO retweeted a post from Sudan's Health Ministry on Sunday saying at least 420 people had been killed and 3,700 injured in the fighting so far.

Countries scrambled to evacuate their diplomats and citizens from the Sudanese capital on Saturday and Sunday. "Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum," President Joe Biden said in a statement.

In a separate statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that all US personnel and their families had been evacuated and operations at the US Embassy in Khartoum have been "temporarily suspended."

The foreign governments began landing aircraft and organising convoys in Khartoum to pull out their nationals. The US said special forces using MH-47 Chinook helicopters swept into Sudan's battle-stricken capital from a US base in Djibouti, spending just one hour on the ground to bring out fewer than 100 people.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Twitter on Sunday that members of his country's armed forces had completed a "complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan". Germany and France announced Sunday that they had begun evacuating their nationals and those from other countries.

Other European countries, including Italy, the Netherlands and Greece, also said they were planning rescue efforts, reported Al Jazeera. Long convoys of UN vehicles and buses were seen leaving Khartoum heading east to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 850km (530 miles) away by road, carrying "citizens from all over the world", according to one Sierra Leonean evacuee.

Turkey began rescue operations at dawn Sunday via road from the southern city of Wad Madani.

Still, the effort was postponed from one site in Khartoum after explosions near a mosque designated as the assembly area, the embassy said on Twitter.

An Italian air force C-130 that left Khartoum with evacuees landed Sunday night at an air base in Djibouti, the country's Defence Ministry said. Another plane, carrying Italy's ambassador and military personnel involved in the evacuation, was expected in Djibouti later in the night, reported Al Jazeera.

The foreign ministry said about 100 people were flown out of Khartoum by Spanish military aircraft -- more than 30 Spaniards and the rest from Portugal, Italy, Poland, Ireland, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina.

Egypt, which said it had more than 10,000 citizens in Sudan, urged those in cities other than Khartoum to head to consular offices in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa in the north for evacuation, the state-run MENA news agency reported.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries. Saudi state TV showed a large convoy of cars and buses from Khartoum to Port Sudan, where a navy ship took them to the Saudi port of Jeddah, reported Al Jazeera.