US positioning troops for evacuation of embassy personnel in Sudan, reports say
The US military is repositioning its troops to a naval base in Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of American embassy personnel in Sudan, several news outlets have reported, citing administration officials.
In a statement on Thursday, the Pentagon said it will deploy “additional capabilities” to the region to potentially help facilitate an evacuation of embassy personnel but did not provide any further details.
John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, said the decision to prepare for a possible evacuation was made by President Joe Biden in the “last couple of days”.
Biden “authorized the military to move forward with pre-positioning forces and to develop options", Kirby told reporters on Thursday.
“There’s no indication that either side is deliberately going after or trying to hurt or target Americans,” Kirby added. “But it’s obviously a dangerous situation.”
While publicly the administration has not provided details, several American news outlets reported that the plans are to move troops into Djibouti's Camp Lemmonier, which will serve as the staging point for any evacuation mission.
Deeming the situation unsafe, the State Department said on Thursday that there were no ongoing operations to rescue its citizens from the country, with the airport and border with neighbouring Chad closed.
"Due to the unfortunate and uncertain and very fluid security situation in Khartoum, and again because of the closure of the airport, it is not safe to undertake a US government coordinated evacuation of private American citizens at this time," Vedant Patel, State Department deputy spokesperson, said on Thursday afternoon.
Fierce fighting has been ongoing across Sudan, concentrated around the capital Khartoum, since Saturday, with two new attempts at a ceasefire failing on Wednesday.
The conflict is between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemeti.
The two factions came to blows on Saturday after failing to agree on a transitional political deal, following the 2021 military coup led by Burhan.
Since fighting began on Saturday, at least 330 people have been killed and 3,200 wounded, according to figures announced by the UN's World Health Organisation.
Fears are growing in the US for American personnel currently still in Sudan, as a diplomatic convoy was attacked.
"I can confirm that yesterday we had an American diplomatic convoy that was fired on," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters during a trip to Japan. "All of our people are safe and unharmed, but this action was reckless, it was irresponsible and, of course, unsafe. A diplomatic convoy with diplomatic plates, a US flag being fired upon."
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