United States troops are carrying out an evacuation of American embassy staffers in Sudan as fighting rages for a ninth day, according to a senior Biden administration official.
US troops that airlifted embassy staff out of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, have safely left Sudanese airspace, a second US official confirmed.
Joe Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation 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.
US forces were flying them from a landing zone at the embassy to an unspecified location.
The US State Department has suspended operations at the embassy due to the dire security situation. It was not clear when the embassy might resume functioning.
According to the World Health Organisation, fighting has killed more than 400 people since erupting on April 15 between two factions whose leaders are vying for control over the country.
The violence has included an unprovoked attack on an American diplomatic convoy and numerous incidents in which foreign diplomats and aid workers were killed, injured or assaulted.
The White House has said it has no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of American citizens trapped in Sudan.
An estimated 16,000 private US citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan.
The State Department has cautioned that that figure probably is inaccurate because there is no requirement for Americans to register nor is there a requirement to notify the embassy when they leave.
The embassy issued an alert earlier on Saturday cautioning that “due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens”.
The US evacuation planning got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum.
The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that US troops were being moved to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti ahead of a possible evacuation.
