As fighting intensifies, the Sudanese Army has stated that diplomats and nationals from the US, UK, France and China are to be evacuated from Sudan.
Army chief Fattah al-Burhan has agreed to facilitate and secure their evacuation “in the coming hours”, the army said.
Fattah is locked in a bitter power struggle with the leader of a rival paramilitary faction, the Rapid Support Forces, reports the BBC.
READ ALSO: Sudan Crisis: Trapped Nigerian students call for help
Hundreds of people have been killed in a week of fighting across the country.
Previous plans to evacuate foreign nationals have not been implemented because of safety fears.
Saudi Arabia has also announced it is arranging the evacuation of Saudi citizens and nationals of “brotherly” countries from Sudan. The Sudanese army also said Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic mission had been evacuated.
Meanwhile, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government on Friday stated that it can’t evacuate Nigerian students from Sudan at the moment.
The Federal Government stated this amidst calls to evacuate Nigerians trapped in the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
Despite the festivities marking the end of Ramadan, the forces of two rival generals failed to cease fire.
Naija News learnt that not less than 300 people have lost their lives since the fighting erupted last Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement released on Friday, said that while the Nigerian Mission in Sudan and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have put in place arrangements to evacuate Nigerian students and other Nigerian citizens stranded in Sudan, the tensed situation makes it gravely risky and impossible for any flights at this point in time.
The statement which was signed by Gabriel Odu of the Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, NIDCOM, quoted Dabiri-Erewa as saying that aircrafts parked at the Airport in the country was burnt on Friday morning
She said humanitarian groups were seeking ways of getting food, water and medicals across to people.