Rabat – France is reported to have evacuated 400 French nationals as well as other nationalities, including Moroccans.
Paris launched evacuation operations involving several air rotations between Khartoum and Djibouti since Sunday, AFP quoted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying.
“These rotations made it possible to evacuate 288 people, including French nationals who wished to do so,” the French ministry announced according to AFP.
France also evacuated a “significant number of citizens of other countries, particularly European ones,” including Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, and Romania.
Other countries that benefited from evacuation also include UK, Sweden, Switzerland, and African countries such as Morocco, South Africa, Burundi, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Namibia, Niger, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Nationals from the US, Canada, and Asian countries like India, Japan, Philippines have also been included in France’s evacuation efforts, reports suggest.
“This entire operation is being carried out in close coordination with our allies and the Djiboutian armed forces. France thanks the Djiboutian authorities for their decisive assistance which made this evacuation possible. France also thanks all the Sudanese actors who are facilitating the evacuation of our compatriots,” the French foreign ministry said in a communique.
On April 15, Morocco’s embassy in Khartoum urged members of the Moroccan diaspora in the country to exercise increased caution and stay away from conflict areas.
The North African country is also exploring operations to repatriate Morocans trapped in Sudan.
Since mid-April, heavy gunfire and explosions have intensified in Sudan amid clashes between the country’s armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group.
On Friday last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least 413 civilians had been killed while over 4,351 had sustained injuries since intense fighting broke out between the two rival factions vying for control over the Sudanese capital.
According to UNICEF spokesperson James Elde, at least nine children were killed while over 50 others have sustained injuries.
