Sudan army agrees to assist evacuation of foreign nationals

According to CNN, there is hope that after a week of fighting, the evacuation of foreign nationals from Sudan may now be feasible after both rival parties vying for control of Sudan indicated they are ready to do so.

In a recent statement, the Sudanese army said it had agreed to help evacuate residents and diplomats from a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and China. According to the announcement, evacuations are anticipated to start “within the coming hours,” CNN reported on Saturday.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Friday that they were prepared to partially reopen all airports in Sudan to aviation traffic in order to permit nations to evacuate their citizens. Last Saturday, intense combat broke out in Sudan between the paramilitary RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), under the command of General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

Although they had been collaborators in the past, tensions arose as a result of discussions about integrating the RSF into the military as part of efforts to restore a civilian administration.

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.