Estimates provided by Sudan’s Health Ministry and cited by media suggest that at least 424 have been killed and at least 3,730 injured since the fighting broke out a little over a week ago, on April 15, and it seems rather likely that the butcher’s bill will only keep growing.
The US military conducted a rescue operation in Khartoum that involved airlifting the US government personnel from the American embassy in the Sudanese capital and flying them to safety last Sunday.
Why Was the US Embassy in Sudan Evacuated?
The urgent evacuation of the embassy in Sudan took place amid a violent conflict that broke out between different factions of the Sudanese military – specifically, between the country’s Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Over a week after the fighting broke out, neither sides seems to be able to gain an upper hand and the prospects of the conflict devolving into a protracted, bloody slugfest seem to be increasing with each passing day.
In this rather uncertain situation, evacuating embassy staff seems like a prudent move by the United States, with other countries also rushing to extract their nationals and diplomats from the Sudanese conflict zone.
How Many Foreigners Are in Sudan?
With the situation in Sudan as chaotic as it is, discerning the exact number of foreign nationals in the country seems to be a rather difficult task, though some estimates have already emerged in the media.
The US Department of State officials claim that approximately 16,000 US citizens (most of them dual nationals) may be in Sudan. The number of US embassy staffers evacuated on Sunday is less than a hundred.
A UK Foreign Office minister said that about 400 British nationals and 4,000 dual nationals were likewise in Sudan, according to media reports.