Sudan: 209 Irish citizens, dependents evacuated, says Martin, as ceasefire extension announced

A total of 209 Irish citizens and their dependants have now been evacuated from war-torn Sudan, Micheál Martin said on Sunday, as a new humanitarian truce was announced.

The majority of those evacuated went on flights operated by the United Kingdom via Cyprus, and Mr Martin – the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs – thanked those countries for their support as he announced that the Emergency Civil Assistance Team (Ecat) would now withdraw.

Ireland will continue to provide consular assistance to those in Sudan from its teams in Dublin, Nairobi, Cairo, Amman, Riyadh and Addis Ababa.

The Tánaiste said: “I wish to thank the Ecat team and all those involved in our consular response. Our primary aim has been to offer our citizens every assistance through what has been an extremely difficult and challenging time.

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“Our experienced consular teams in Dublin and in the region will continue to actively respond to the needs of our citizens as the situation evolves,” Mr Martin said.

“I would like to thank our EU partners, the UK, Jordan, Norway and Djibouti for their strong co-operation in this challenging mission.”

Meanwhile, a humanitarian truce was extended on Sunday and will last for three days starting from midnight, according to a statement released by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spokesman.

“In response to international, regional and local calls, we announce the extension of the humanitarian truce for 72 hours, starting from midnight tonight, in order to open humanitarian corridors and facilitate the movement of citizens and residents and enable them to fulfil their needs and reach safe areas,” the statement said.

Sudan’s rival military forces accused each other of fresh violations of a ceasefire that was set to expire on Sunday as their deadly conflict continued for a third week despite warnings of a slide towards catastrophic civil war.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded since a long-simmering power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15th.

Locked in a battle for Khartoum, Sudan’s capital on the Nile, the parties have fought on despite a series of ceasefires secured by mediators including the United States.

The situation in Khartoum, where the army has been battling RSF forces entrenched in residential areas, was relatively calm on Sunday morning, a Reuters journalist said, after heavy clashes were heard on Saturday evening near the city centre.

The Sudanese army said on Sunday it had destroyed RSF convoys moving towards Khartoum from the west. The RSF said the army had used artillery and warplanes to attack its positions in a number of areas in Khartoum province.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

In an apparent bid to boost its forces in the capital, the army said on Saturday that the Central Reserve Police had begun to deploy in southern Khartoum and would be deployed gradually in other areas of the capital.

The Central Reserve Police is a large and heavily armed division of Sudan’s police force that has fighting experience from conflicts in the western region of Darfur and in the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan.

In March 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on the Central Reserve Police, accusing it of using excessive force against protesters who were demonstrating in Khartoum and other places against a 2021 military coup.

The fighting in Khartoum has so far seen RSF forces fan out across the city as the army tries to target them largely by using air strikes from drones and fighter jets.

This month's conflict has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing into neighbouring states and prompted warnings that Sudan could disintegrate, destabilising a volatile region.

It has also derailed an internationally-backed political transition aimed at establishing democratic government in Sudan, where former autocratic president Omar Hassan al-Bashir was toppled in 2019 after three decades in power.

The prospects for negotiations have so far seemed bleak.

Army leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has said he would never sit down with Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. The RSF chief in turn said he would talk only after the army ceased hostilities.

Nonetheless, the UN special representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, told Reuters on Saturday he had recently sensed a change in the sides’ attitudes and they were more open to negotiations, and were saying they would accept “some form of talks”.

At least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 wounded, the health ministry said. The United Nations has reported a similar number of dead, but believes the real toll is much higher. Foreign nationals have fled the country amid evacuation efforts by countries.

A US-government organised convoy arrived at the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on Saturday, evacuating US citizens, local staff and others.

Britain’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it had evacuated 1,888 people on 21 flights from since its evacuation operation started on Tuesday. – Reuters