(PatriotWise.com) — The US flag was lowered at the American embassy in Khartoum before troops evacuated staff. The Sudanese capital is now too unsafe for embassy workers to remain. Ambassador John T. Godfrey oversaw the flag-lowering ceremony, and all operations in the country were suspended.
Fighting in the African nation has resulted in hundreds of deaths since mid-April. Around 16,000 Americans are still in the country as nations try to evacuate their citizens.
The government there was toppled in a coup in October 2021 by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in cooperation with the nation’s army. Now, tensions between the two groups have unleashed as a new plan to transfer power to civilians is proposed.
Under the new proposals, the army and the RSF are to concede power to a new government. Issues around the amalgamation of the groups and civilian oversight of armed forces have proved contentious, however.
The warring factions, who blamed each other for the outbreak of violence, are led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the army, and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – known as Hemedti. He wants to sideline Islamist groups and prevent them from taking power while seeking to place himself at the center of a new government. On the other hand, the army contains several Islamist-leaning officers loyal to former leader Omar Al-Bashir. Bashir ruled the country for three decades.
While US officials have been evacuated from the country, thousands of private citizens remain. A statement from the State Department on April 25th said, “It is not currently safe to undertake a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens.”
The government said that most of those remaining in Sudan are dual US-Sudanese citizens, and only a small number have so far expressed a desire to leave. US officials have advised prospective land routes out of the country for those who do wish to flee, but warned that these are potentially dangerous and the situation remains unpredictable.
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