Governments scramble to save diplomats and Sudanese citizens

The U.S. military airlifted embassy officials out of Sudan on Sunday, and international governments raced to evacuate their diplomatic staff and citizens trapped in the capital. Fighting raged in Omdurman, the city across the Nile from Sudan's capital, Khartoum, despite a declared truce that was to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. After a week of bloody battles, U.S. special forces swiftly evacuated some 70 U.S. embassy staffers from Khartoum to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia. France, Greece and other European countries are organizing evacuations for embassy employees and nationals, as well as some citizens of allied countries. Italy has dispatched military jets to the Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the evacuation of 140 Italian nationals in Sudan, many of whom have already taken refuge in the embassy.

The fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces, has targeted and paralyzed the country's main international airport, reducing a number of civilian aircraft to ruins and gutting at least one runway. Overland travel across areas contested by the warring parties has proven dangerous, but some countries have pressed ahead with the journey. Saudi Arabia successfully evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries, from Khartoum to Port Sudan, where a navy ship then ferried the evacuees across the Red Sea to the Saudi port of Jeddah. The conflict has left millions of Sudanese stranded at home, hiding from explosions, gunfire and looting, without adequate electricity, food or water. On Sunday, the country experienced a "near-total collapse" of internet connection and phone lines nationwide, according to NetBlocks.

Thousands of Sudanese have fled the combat in Khartoum and other hotspots, and at least 20,000 people have abandoned their homes in the western region of Darfur for neighboring Chad. The fighting has also caught civilians, including foreign diplomats, in the crossfire, with fighters attacking a U.S. Embassy convoy and storming the home of the European Union ambassador to Sudan. The rival generals rose to power in the tumultuous aftermath of popular uprisings that led to the ouster of Sudan’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir, in 2019. Two years later, they joined forces to seize power in a coup that ousted the civilian leaders and opened a troubled new chapter in the country's history.