Saturday, April 29, 2023

Tardy Evacuation of Americans from Sudan

 The New York Times published on 28 April 2023 an article titled "U.S. Begins Overland Evacuation of American Civilians from Sudan" by Declan Walsh, Eric  Schmitt, Edward Wong, and Abdi Latif Dahir.

After a fast and professional evacuation using Chinook helicopters and special forces personnel of American diplomats from the U.S. embassy compound in Khartoum, the U.S. has belatedly begun to organize an evacuation by road for other Americans more than 500 miles away to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.  This follows by almost a week evacuations by air from an airfield north of Khartoum and by road to Port Sudan conducted by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom among others.  

The State Department issued on 29 April 2023 a statement titled "Evacuation Efforts of U.S. Citizens from Sudan."  It identifies what the U.S. government is doing to evacuate private citizens from Sudan.

Comment:  While U.S. policy normally does not include mass evacuations of U.S. citizens from conflict zones, the situation in Sudan would seem to qualify as an exception as was the case for evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan.