Diplomats and nationals from the UK, US, France and China are to be evacuated from Sudan by air as fighting there continues, a statement from the Sudanese army says.
Army chief Fattah al-Burhan agreed to facilitate and secure their evacuation “in the coming hours”, it said.
He is locked in a bitter power struggle with the leader of a rival paramilitary faction, the Rapid Support Forces.
The UK government said it was preparing for “a number of contingencies”.
Previous plans to evacuate foreign nationals have not been implemented because of safety fears.
Khartoum’s international airport has been closed due to the violence, with foreign embassies - including the UK and US - unable to bring their citizens home.
The conflict has entered its second week despite both sides - the army and the RSF - agreeing to a three-day ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, starting from Friday.
Sporadic gunfire and air strikes were heard in the capital on Saturday despite the truce.
A former foreign minister, Mariam al-Mahdi, who is sheltering in Khartoum told the BBC the ceasefire was “not taking at all”.
“We are out of electricity for the last 24 hours. We are out of water for the last six days,” she said.
Medical teams are being targeted in the fighting, she said, adding: “There are rotting bodies of our youth in the streets.”
Source – BBC
- Agencies
