US 'actively facilitating' departure of American citizens in Sudan: White House

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US is "actively facilitating" the departure of its citizens in Sudan amid the conflict in the country between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country, said the White House Monday.

"At the President's direction, we are actively facilitating the departure of American citizens who want to leave Sudan as the State Department has been urging them to do for years," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a press briefing.

"We have deployed US intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to support land evacuation routes which Americans are using, and we're moving naval assets within the region to provide support," he added.

Sullivan said that American citizens have started arriving in Port Sudan, and the US is facilitating their onward travel.

"We're also supporting the efforts of our partners and allies, including local partners to evacuate or otherwise ensure the safety of their people," he said.

Sullivan also thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia for their support in the operation.

On the conflict in Sudan, Sullivan said the US made clear to the both Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that "they are responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and non-combatants including people from third countries and humanitarian staff who are still to this day working to save lives."

"We continue to condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence between the SAF and the RSF," he said, while also noting that the US deployed USAID Disaster Assistance Response to the region for humanitarian response.

Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said earlier on Monday that the situation in Sudan is “not conducive” to conduct large-scale military evacuation of US citizens in the region.

"Well, we have military forces still prepositioned nearby in the region … if they’re needed, but quite frankly, the situation is not conducive and not safe to try to conduct some kind of a larger military evacuation of American citizens,” Kirby told “CNN This Morning.”

Heavy fighting in Sudan between the army and RSF has entered its second week, with more than 400 people killed and over 3,500 injured since April 15, despite a temporary truce for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.