Status: 04/24/2023 10:12 PM
The German army has so far transferred more than 400 people from Sudan. Three Airbus A400Ms took them from Wunstorf Air Base first to Jordan – from there they continued on to Berlin.
The first Bundeswehr machine arrived in Berlin on Monday morning. According to the German Foreign Ministry, 101 Germans, their families and people from other partner countries were on board. Machine A321 landed at 6:15 am. A fourth German evacuation flight followed on Monday, according to the German military. The machine was on its way from Khartoum to Jordan in the evening. The federal government did not initially provide information on the nationality of the passengers on this flight.
Machines from Wunstorf took part in the evacuation
On Sunday, the German army began evacuating from the besieged country in northeastern Africa. Three Airbus A400M Bundeswehr aircraft participated from Wunstorf Air Base. The Bundeswehr uses Jordan as its hub: a total of 311 people have been flown in from Sudan on three flights. All embassy staff who were sent on board have also been transported, German Foreign Minister Annalina Berbock (Green Party) announced. In addition to the Germans, the German army also brought citizens of 20 other countries to safety with these three machines, including Belgium, Great Britain, Jordan, Austria and some African countries.
More than 1,000 soldiers in combat
“The onward journey of the evacuees of third-country nationals will be coordinated with the respective countries,” the operational command said. The three Bundeswehr planes took off from the Al-Asrak region in Jordan towards Sudan, and landed at an airport near the capital, Khartoum. More than 1,000 women and men from the German army participated in the operation.
More evacuation flights planned
The federal government is preparing for more potential evacuation flights in the coming days. However, since the three-day ceasefire in Sudan was set to expire on Monday, these plans were fraught with uncertainty. “There are still other Germans at the site,” Burbock said. However, it is “more than uncertain” whether the security situation will allow for further evacuations in the next few days.
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Other countries have already started operations
Several other countries, including France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have also launched evacuations. Meanwhile, two French military planes with about 200 people of different nationalities on board landed in Djibouti, East Africa. Spain also began evacuations on Sunday. In addition to 30 Spanish citizens, there were also 70 citizens of other countries on board, including Argentina, Portugal and Poland. Meanwhile, Egypt, Sudan’s northern neighbor, announced the evacuation of 436 citizens by land.
My voice: Evacuations start from the Sudanese capital (4 minutes).
Fighting in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces
In Sudan, units of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting each other for more than a week. The agreement to integrate the Rapid Support Forces into the armed forces had failed in the past. More than 420 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded in the fighting. Several ceasefire agreements have already been broken.
The rescue mission had to be aborted on Wednesday
Three A400M military tankers from Winstorf have already embarked on a rescue mission in Sudan on Wednesday. But due to the tense situation, they had to turn back.
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