LAST UPDATE | 27 Apr 2023
TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has confirmed that 122 Irish citizens have been evacuated from Sudan.
In a statement this afternoon, Martin said the figure includes both citizens and their dependents.
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, the Tánaiste explained that dependents “ordinarily means children and spouses who may not be citizens, but they are generally evacuated as well”.
While Martin said he is “wary of giving precise figures”, he added that “close to 100 people could still be in Sudan”.
The Tánaiste also described Ireland as a “long-standing partner” to Sudan and said Ireland will work closely with EU partners to achieve peace in the region.
In a statement this afternoon, Martin thanked EU partners, the UK, and Jordan for their “close cooperation”.
He noted that some citizens have “made their way overland independently”.
Meanwhile, the government has approved the extension of the operation of the Emergency Civil Assistance Team (ECAT) mission currently based in Djibouti to Cyprus, where the UK is currently operating evacuation flights to.
The Tánaiste also said that, “due to continued uncertainty about the duration of the current ceasefire”, Irish citizens in Sudan should “give serious consideration to evacuation options as they become available” if they deem it is safe to do so.
Martin’s comments come as thousands of British nationals in Sudan have been warned that there is no guarantee on further evacuation flights once the ceasefire expires tonight.
The Tánaiste noted that “evacuation operations will only continue for as long as the security situation in Sudan allows”.
UK military chiefs said at least 500 people a day can be rescued from an airfield near the capital Khartoum, amid fears bloody clashes will resume when the fragile truce between the warring factions ends.
Irish citizens have been evacuated from Sudan on flights arranged by EU partners and the UK.
Foreign governments have scrambled to get thousands of their citizens out, and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged Britons to leave while they can.
“Whilst the ceasefire is up and running, there are planes, there’s capacity, we will lift you out,” Cleverly said. “We are not able to make those same assurances once a ceasefire is ended.”
As the clock ticks down on the ceasefire, the Sudanese army today pounded paramilitaries in Khartoum with air strikes while deadly fighting flared in Darfur.
In the final hours of a repeatedly broken three-day ceasefire, due to end at midnight (10pm Irish time), the army said it would extend the truce “for an additional 72 hours” following pressure by Saudi Arabia and the United States.
There have been multiple truce efforts since fighting broke out on 15 April between Sudan’s regular army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his deputy turned rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. All have failed.
The RSF has not responded to the latest proposal.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ceasefire had been “imperfect”, but “nonetheless has reduced violence”.
At least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 wounded in the fighting, according to health ministry figures, although the real death toll is likely much higher.
Hospitals have been shelled and more than two thirds are out of service, the doctors’ union said today, reporting at least eight civilians killed in Khartoum alone yesterday.
The World Food Programme has said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people - one-third of the population – need aid.
Abdou Dieng, UN aid chief in Sudan, speaking from Port Sudan today, said he was “extremely worried about the situation”, with food supplies a huge concern.
Fighting has also flared in the provinces, particularly in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
The UN humanitarian agency said the fighting in West Darfur had disrupted food to “an estimated 50,000 acutely malnourished children”.
The violence has trapped many civilians in their homes, where they have endured severe food, water and electricity shortages.
Those who can afford to have taken the long and risky journey to flee the country.
Egypt said today that at least 14,000 Sudanese refugees had crossed the border since fighting erupted, as well as 2,000 people from 50 other countries.
At least 20,000 people have escaped into Chad, 4,000 into South Sudan, 3,500 into Ethiopia and 3,000 into the Central African Republic, according to the UN, which has warned if fighting continues as many as 270,000 people could flee.
As lawlessness has gripped Sudan, there have been several jailbreaks, including from the high security Kober prison where top aides of ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir were held.
Among the escapees is Ahmed Harun, wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Harun’s escape sparked fears of the involvement of Bashir loyalists in the ongoing fighting.
The army said 79-year-old Bashir was in a military hospital, where he had been moved to before fighting erupted.
Daglo’s RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia, accused of carrying out atrocities during Bashir’s brutal suppression of ethnic minority rebels in Darfur in the mid-2000s.
Bashir was toppled by the military in April 2019 following civilian mass protests that raised hopes for a transition to democracy.
The two generals seized power together in a 2021 coup, but later fell out, most recently over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.
Includes reporting by Diarmuid Pepper, Press Association and © AFP 2023
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