US officials fear an Afghanistan evacuation catastrophe in Sudan
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A Foreign Policy report says that US officials are urging Biden to put forward a plan to evacuate the 16,000 nationals in Sudan after evacuating diplomats in April 24
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US President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ottowa, Ontario, Canada, 24 March 2023 (Reuters)
Concerns arise in US lawmaking circles as the Biden administration has not yet put forth any plan to evacuate citizens from conflict-ridden Sudan which has promoted fears of a catastrophe similar to that of Afghanistan occurring in the country, Foreign Policy reports.
States around the world rushed to evacuate citizens from Sudan after ongoing clashes between the al-Burhan-led Sudanese Armed Forces and the Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo-led Rapid Support Forces (RSF) put civilians under the line of fire.
The US military conducted an operation using 6 Chinook helicopters to evacuate almost all members of its embassy in Khartoum on April 23.
However, reports show that the US administration has left around 16,000 nationals stranded in areas of conflict, with few options to reach safety.
Civilian international airports in Sudan are out of service after both belligerent groups fought to seize control of these facilities. The status of such infrastructure remains ambiguous as information on them is contradictory.
US officials and lawmakers are pushing the Biden administration to take the necessary measures to evacuate the vast American population present in Sudan, according to Foreign Policy.
This comes as efforts from neighboring countries, European countries, and Asian countries were able to successfully utilize the Port of Sudan as well as military airfields controlled by the SAF to evacuation efforts of both diplomats and nationals.
Officials critical of Biden Administration's performance in Sudan
The report also underlined suspicions regarding the performance of the administration as the report highlighted the negligence of US officials of information that showed the inevitability of clashes breaking out in Sudan between the two groups.
The piece points to "a mood of anger and recrimination in Washington", as government officials involved in East Africa Policy say that "warning signs were all there, even if people at the top didn't appreciate it until" conflict broke out in Khartoum.
The officials have worked relentlessly on achieving a cease-fire between the two armed groups, but the US government trails behind the governments of China, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Spain, and Indonesia among others who have already repatriated large portions of their nationals.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference on Thursday that the US is“providing the best possible advice that we can to anyone asking for our assistance” and “providing important logistical support” to other evacuation efforts.
“What we need to do and what we’re working to establish is a sustained process for enabling people to leave,” he stated.
US Navy positioned on the coast of Sudan
The US naval ships, positioned in the Red Sea under the guise of surveying the area and collecting intelligence to protect UN convoys exiting Khartoum, will not be used to complete a mass evacuation of nationals says Foreign Policy.
The report stressed the difficulties surrounding evacuation processes, especially as fighting in Sudan has centered around densely populated neighborhoods.
The infighting and Khartoum being located 500 miles off the coast produce great logistical difficulties when compared to previous operations in the region including that of Lebanon in 2006 and Somalia in 1991.
In addition, it is still unclear what portion of the US nationals want are looking to leave the country.
Fears of another catastrophe similar to Kabul
Legislators are pushing Joe Biden to put forth a well-worked plan to ensure the safety of US citizens, to "avoid another Afghanistan situation," the magazine says.
The unplanned and spontaneous evacuation of US citizens and their collaborators from Afghanistan in 2021 was deemed a failure, as many of the country's subjects were left behind as the Taliban took back control of the country.
Images and footage of Afghanis hanging off military cargo jets as they flew out of the country prompted heavy criticism of Biden and the US who were accused of rashly withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Who is left in Sudan?
The report reveals that a large amount of US citizens hold dual citizenship while US-funded "humanitarian and aid" workers make up another large portion of the 16,000 present in Sudan.
“We are communicating risks quite clearly and quite directly to people, as we have communicated risks over more than a decade to tell Americans not to travel to Sudan in the first place and to leave Sudan if they were there,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said to the press on April 24.
US official responded to Sullivan's claims saying, “These weren’t hapless tourists, these were aid workers living in Khartoum to advance American interests and help the Sudanese,” to SitRep.
Furthermore, US officials are worried that conflict in Sudan will produce vast amounts of refugees which in turn, would clear out the disputed cities of civilians leading to the intensification of fighting between the SAF and the RSF, US officials told SidRep on condition of remaining anonymous.
This would further complicate evacuation processes which bring out concerns over the fate of US citizens with the Biden administration not taking any serious efforts to evacuate thousands of its nationals in Sudan.
Read more: Sudanese army accuses RSF of shelling Turkish evacuation aircraft.
