US Evacuates Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan

 President Biden issued a statement on 22 April 2023 on the "Situation in Sudan" in which he announced the evacuation of U.S. government personnel from Khartoum by the U.S. military.  He thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia for their assistance and announced the United States is "temporarily suspending operations" at the embassy in Khartoum.  He called on the belligerent parties in Sudan to implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

The Washington Post published on 23 April 2023 an article titled "Special Forces Swiftly Evacuate US Embassy Staff from Sudan" by Matthew Lee, Tara Copp, and Aamer Madhani.

About 100 U.S. troops in three MH-47 helicopters positioned in Djibouti airlifted about 70 American employees from a landing zone at the embassy compound in Khartoum to a location in Ethiopia, which also provided overflight and refueling support.  

The Washington Post published on 23 April 2023 an article titled "Embassies Rush to Evacuate in Sudan's Chaos, But Thousands of Foreigners Remain" by John Hudson and Katharine Houreld.

The article describes the efforts of other embassies in Khartoum to evacuate their nationals, noting that most foreign nationals remain in the country.  While the United States does not plan to conduct additional air evacuations of U.S. nationals, it is considering the use of surveillance and reconnaissance to provide information on potentially safe land routes out of Khartoum. 

The Washington Post published on 22 April 2023 an article titled "U.S. Evacuates Embassy Personnel and Families from Sudan, Biden Says" by Claire Parker, Katharine Houreld, Ellen Francis, John Hudson, and Shane Harris.

This article provides additional background on the evacuation of US embassy staff from Khartoum, adding that it is not safe to undertake a US government -coordinated evacuation of private citizens scattered throughout Khartoum.  

Comment:  The US embassy is located on a large compound in the Soba district on the east side of Khartoum near the Blue Nile River.  It is a safer location than many parts of Khartoum from which to conduct an evacuation of this kind.  

US Forces Back in Somalia

 The Washington Post published on 10 December 2022 an article titled "U.S. Troops Are Back in Somalia and Scrambling to Help Its Special Forces" by Katharine Houreld.

At the end of its term, the Trump Administration pulled all American troops out of Somalia who were mostly training a Somali government special forces unit known as Danab to counter the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization known as al-Shabaab.  As a result, Danab's ability to counter al-Shabaab deteriorated significantly.  The Biden administration sent U.S. forces back to Somalia to resume the training of Danab in country.   

Deployment of US Special Forces to Somalia

 The Atlantic Council published on 3 June 2022 a commentary titled "Why Biden's Limited Somalia Deployment Is the Right Move" by Thomas S. Warrick and Christopher P. Costa.

The US deployment of about 450 Special Operations troops back to Somalia is appropriate to put pressure on al-Shabaab.  The Trump administration removed the troops in January 2021 and al-Shabaab increased in strength.

The Dangers of Trump's Troop Withdrawal from Somalia

 World Politics Review published on 10 December 2020 an analysis titled "The Dangers of Trump's Hasty Troop Withdrawal from Somalia" by Peter Kirechu.

The author regards as misguided the decision by the Trump administration to remove nearly all of the 700 special operations forces from Somalia before Trump leaves office in January.  He adds that while the US cannot single-handedly change the status quo in Somalia, the US military presence confers substantial leverage creating conditions that could influence both the Somali government and al-Shabaab toward meaningful negotiations.  

More US Trainers to Somalia

Radio France Internationale asked me to comment on 16 April 2017 on the US announcement that it is sending a "few dozen" troops to Somalia to train the Somali National Army in logistics. These troops from the 101st Airborne Division will join up to 50 special forces personnel who have been operating in Somalia for a number of years.

Foreign Policy published on 14 April 2017 additional information on this subject titled "U.S. to Send Troops to Somalia Amid Blowback" by Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian.

US Eases Combat Rules in Somalia

The New York Times published on 30 March 2017 an article titled "Trump Eases Combat Rules in Somalia Intended to Protect Civilians" by Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt.

It reports that the U.S. Africa Command, operating under new guidelines, may treat Somalia under less-restrictive battlefield rules. Without interagency vetting, commanders may strike people thought to be al-Shabaab fighters based only on that status, without any reason to think that the individual target poses a particular and specific threat to Americans.

Foreign Policy published an article on the same development on 30 March 2017 titled "Trump Expands War Authorities to Target Militants in Somalia" by Paul McLeary.

US Special Operations Command Africa

The May 2016 issue of the CTC Sentinel contains an interview with Brigadier General Donald C. Bolduc, Commander, Special Operations Command Africa, titled "A View from the CT Foxhole." Bolduc sets forth a common sense US approach for assisting African countries with their counterterrorism challenges.

Covert U.S. Attacks in Somalia

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a not-for-profit organization based at City University, London, released on 22 February 2012 a report on U.S. military strikes since 2007. Drawing on open source reporting from a variety of organizations, it alleged that there have been as many as 21 U.S. military strikes in Somalia since 2007, most of them aimed at al-Shabaab. Not all of the alleged strikes are well documented. The report is titled the Covert Drone War.

The Bureau released at the same time a longer list of alleged U.S. and United Kingdom military strikes in Somalia dating back to 2001. Most of them are based on journalistic accounts and a few are single sourced. Called Covert Drone War - the Data, this is the most comprehensive account to date of reported strikes inside Somalia by U.S. and UK military forces.