US, Sudanese generals talk on phone as US considers embassy evacuation

KHARTOUM: United States top General Mark Milley has in a telephone conversation with Sudan's General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan discussed the safety of US citizens in Sudan, which is witnessing fighting.

Al Jazeera reported citing a statement by Milley's office that the Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff has discussed the safety of US citizens in Sudan in a phone call with Sudan's army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, "The two leaders discussed the safety of Americans and the developing situation in Sudan" the statement said on Friday.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said that the US military is looking into options to evacuate the US Embassy in Sudan amid the fighting that has killed hundreds, mainly in Khartoum and the west of the country, as per Al Jazeera's report.

"We've deployed some forces into the theatre to ensure that we provide as many options as possible if we are called on to do something. And we haven't been called on to do anything yet," Austin said at a press conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. "No decision on anything has been made," Austin added.

A decision regarding a potential embassy evacuation is due soon, according to two US officials, though it is not yet known if there would be a public statement. Fighting continued in Khartoum on Friday, even though the Sudanese army said it had reached an understanding with the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for a three-day ceasefire to allow civilians to observe the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.

The RSF announced earlier in the day that a 72-hour ceasefire had been reached in observance of Eid. According to journalist and analyst Mohamed Alamin Ahmed of Khartoum, there was a respite in the fighting on Friday night, but it was not a truce, Al Jazeera reported.

He also said, "We cannot say that here is an implementation of the truce 100 per cent because the two sides actually do a lot of movements of repositioning themselves," adding that sporadic gunfire could still be heard from different parts of the city. Ahmed also said, "The situation is fluctuating. We cannot say that this truce is being implemented well but the situation is a little bit, going, a little bit positive."

Countries including Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and the US have been unable to evacuate embassy workers since the airport in Khartoum is engulfed in violence and the skies are insecure, read a report published in Al Jazeera.

According to a Western diplomat, the Sudanese evacuation situation is among the most challenging they have ever encountered. The US is probably concentrating on achieving a truce so that its personnel may be evacuated.

Washington has said that private US citizens living in Sudan shouldn't expect a coordinated evacuation by the US government. Vedant Patel, the deputy spokeswoman for the US State Department, stated that authorities were in contact with hundreds of US individuals believed to remain in Sudan.

The State Department on Friday confirmed the death of a US citizen there. The United Nations and other countries are also looking at ways of evacuating citizens and employees. Abdou Dieng, a top UN official in Sudan said that the UN has been attempting to shift workers out of "very dangerous" zones in Sudan and into safer areas.

On Wednesday, according to Dieng, he was relocated to a safer area. Eight hundred of the UN's roughly 4,000 employees in Sudan are foreigners. Sweden said on Friday that it will evacuate embassy personnel and their families as soon as possible, and Switzerland said it was looking into how to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.

While South Korea ordered military aircraft to stand by at the US military facility in Djibouti to prepare to evacuate its citizens when possible, Spanish military aircraft are on standby and prepared to evacuate some 60 Spanish nationals and others from Khartoum.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that 413 people had died and 3,551 had been injured as a result of the fighting in Sudan so far; however, the true death toll is likely higher because many injured individuals were unable to get to hospitals.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has appealed for "immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access", saying it was a "legal obligation under international humanitarian law". The analysts have warned that the conflict could have an impact on countries across the region, with the UN saying up to 20,000 people have already fled to a neighbouring country, Chad, Al Jazeera reported.