France closes its embassy “until further notice”

MADRID, April 24. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –

The United States government has mobilized several ships in the face of possibly evacuating its citizens from Sudan through the Red Sea, after initially removing diplomatic personnel and in a context that also left other Western countries in suspense as they rushed to remove them. each citizen of an African country.

White House spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC that Washington was “examining options” for now, noting that the situation on the ground made a “massive” extraction operation unlikely. US troops monitor a UN-led convoy carrying dozens of US citizens to the coastal city of Port Sudan by drone.

“The safest thing an American can do is take cover and not move around too much,” he said.

The UK also fired diplomatic personnel first, something the Government wanted to justify this Monday by withdrawing the very difficult position it had been in Khartoum. The person in charge of Foreign Affairs for Africa, Andrew Mitchell, has confirmed that 2,000 nationals have officially requested assistance, but there may be up to 4,000 British nationals in Sudan, according to the BBC.

The Secretary of State himself, James Cleverly, acknowledged that access to residents was “limited”, given the heavy fighting between the Sudanese Army and paramilitary forces.

For its part, France has continued this Monday with evacuation work, which has facilitated the departure of at least 388 people from the African country from more than twenty countries. The French Foreign Ministry has reported in a statement that there is “permanent contact” with those who remain in Sudan.

However, “the French Embassy in Sudan is closed until further notice” and, from Monday, will no longer be a meeting place for those wishing to leave Khartoum. The embassy will continue its work but from Paris, after all personnel have been evacuated, and France “is mobilized to facilitate the ceasefire and the resumption of the process of political transition.”