The U.S. Government has confirmed the deployment of U.S. troops to Sudan as a preliminary measure to facilitate a possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel in the country.
The Department of Defense, through Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent contingency planning for various contingencies. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities in the vicinity of the region for security-related contingency purposes and the possible facilitation of the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, should circumstances require,» reads a statement released Thursday by the agency.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby did not confirm during a press briefing whether the United States plans to evacuate Embassy personnel any time soon: »The Pentagon announced that they are moving forward to position some military forces for contingency purposes only, should they be needed for any kind of evacuation. But no decision has been made in this regard».
As for the non-diplomatic civilian U.S. nationals still in Sudan, Kirby confirmed that they are located and sheltering in place, although he said they are working to bring them all together in one location to better ensure their safety.
In turn, the State Department, through its deputy spokesman, Vedant Patel, stressed that »the way in which embassy personnel and private U.S. citizens are evacuated is carried out differently».
The Khartoum International Airport and Sudan’s border with Chad are closed. And because of the unfortunate, uncertain and very fluid security situation in Khartoum, and again because of the closure of the airport, it is not safe to undertake a coordinated evacuation by the U.S. government of private U.S. citizens at this time,» he added.
The death toll from the fighting that broke out on Saturday in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Reaction Forces (RSF) has risen to more than 330 dead and nearly 3,200 wounded, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The hostilities broke out on Saturday amid rising tensions over the reform of the security apparatus and the integration of the paramilitary force – led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’, who is also vice-president of the Sovereign Transitional Council – into the Armed Forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and revive the transition.
The talks process kicked off with international mediation after the army chief and president of the Sovereign Transitional Council, Abdelfata al-Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that ousted the then unity prime minister, Abdullah Hamdok, appointed to the post following civil-military contacts after the April 2019 uprising that ended 30 years of Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s regime.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
