President Joe Biden speaks at Ulster University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. InternationalIndiaAfricaWASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US President Joe Biden has confirmed that he had ordered US military forces to evacuate US government personnel from the American Embassy in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum amid violent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Earlier, the RSF said they coordinated with the US Forces Mission consisting of six aircraft, for evacuating US diplomats and their families on Sunday morning. The RSF added that they supervised all the arrangements that preceded the evacuation process and affirmed their readiness to ensure the safe return of diplomats to their countries.”Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US Government personnel from Khartoum,” Biden said in a release late on Saturday night. “I thank Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia, which were critical to the success of our operation.” Earlier, Biden said that he had been receiving regular reports from his team on their ongoing work to assist Americans in Sudan, and was working closely with US allies and partners in this effort. The United States is temporarily suspending operations at the US Embassy in Sudan, he added.The RSF announced on Twitter on Friday its readiness to partially open airports in order to allow for the evacuation of foreign citizens from Sudan.”Furthermore, we renew our commitment to ceasefire during the declared truce, to open up humanitarian corridors and ensure the safety and wellbeing of the citizens,” the RSF said.Last Saturday, violent clashes between the Sudanese regular armed forces and the RSF broke out, with the epicenter located in Khartoum. Government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese military, has issued a decree disbanding the RSF.On Friday, Sudan’s armed forces said they had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire on humanitarian grounds starting from 6:00 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT) and expressed hope that the RSF would comply with the truce.Sudan’s Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said on Friday that about 60 people were killed and more than 200 were injured during the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which is celebrated in Sudan on Friday. In total, about 600 have died and 3,500 have been injured during almost a week of conflict in Sudan.
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