Canada suspends operations in Sudan as fight continues
By Story Agencies, April 23, 2023Canada is temporarily suspending operations in Sudan, the federal government announced Sunday.
“The situation in Sudan has rapidly deteriorated, making it impossible to safeguard the safety and security of our staff in Khartoum,” Global Affairs Canada said in a statement.
Canadian diplomats will work “from a safe location outside the country … to support Canadians still in country,” it went on.
The federal government previously announced it had temporarily suspended in-person operations at its embassy in Khartoum.
“The Canadian Embassy will resume operations in Khartoum as soon as the situation in Sudan allows us to guarantee proper service and the safety and security for our staff,” Sunday’s statement said.
Foreign governments evacuated diplomats, staff and others trapped in Sudan on Sunday as rival generals battled for a ninth day with no sign of a truce that had been declared for a major Muslim holiday. While world powers like the U.S. and Britain airlifted their diplomats from the capital of Khartoum, Sudanese desperately sought to flee the chaos. Many who travelled risked dangerous roads to seek safer spots or crossed the northern frontier into Egypt.
Canada’s latest statement did not give any details on evacuation efforts. Saudi Arabia said it helped some Canadians escape Sudan on Saturday.
Evacuations underway
The fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF) has targeted and paralyzed the country’s main international airport, reducing a number of civilian aircraft to ruins and gutting at least one runway. Other airports across the country have also been knocked out of operation.
Overland travel across areas contested by the warring parties has proven dangerous. Khartoum is some 840 kilometres from Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday the country’s armed forces evacuated diplomatic staff and their family members from Sudan.
Sunak paid tribute to what he called a “complex” evacuation after he said there had been a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff.
Britain’s defence minister, Ben Wallace, said British troops undertook the rescue operation alongside the United States, France, and other unnamed allies.
The U.S. military also airlifted embassy officials out of Sudan on Sunday and other governments raced to evacuate their diplomatic staff and citizens trapped in the capital.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the country was temporarily suspending operations at its embassy in Khartoum but remained committed to the Sudanese people, reiterating calls for a ceasefire.
“The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan,” he said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday said the kingdom successfully evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries. Saudi state TV released footage of a large convoy of Saudis and other foreign nationals travelling by car and bus from Khartoum to Port Sudan, where a navy ship then ferried the evacuees across the Red Sea to the Saudi port of Jeddah.
Fighting continues despite ceasefire
Fighting raged in Omdurman, the city across the Nile from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, residents reported. The violence came despite a declared truce that was to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
“We did not see such a truce,” said Amin al-Tayed from his home near state television headquarters in Omdurman. He said heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city. “The battles did not stop,” he said.