Over 1,600 EU citizens evacuated from Sudan

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - More than 1,600 EU nationals have been evacuated from conflict-torn Sudan, an EU official said on Thursday.

“Over 1,600 EU citizens are already evacuated” from the approximately 1,700 people who were estimated to be in the country at the beginning of the conflict, Nabila Massrali, a European Commission spokeswoman, told reporters.

She said that the EU is “ready to support mediation efforts regarding ceasefire and humanitarian corridor” as a short-term objective in resolving the conflict.

To find a long-lasting solution and peace in Sudan, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell held talks with a “wide number of interlocutors” and works with “partners to establish a broad-based coalition,” Massrali said.

Borrell already talked to the leaders of two opposing sides in the conflict – Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the Sudanese army, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – as well as Kenya’s President William Ruto, she added.

At least 460 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in clashes between the army and RSF since April 15, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and paramilitaries concerning military security reform.

The reform envisages full RSF participation in the military – one of the main issues in negotiations with international and regional parties for a transition to civilian, democratic rule.