TEHRAN – Iran has evacuated dozens of its nationals from Sudan where fighting between the country’s army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered a third week on Saturday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani announced that 65 Iranians had been moved from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Port of Jeddah.
“The Foreign Ministry had seriously put high on its agenda the withdrawal and transfer of the 65 Iranian citizens living in Sudan since unrest broke out in the country [on April 15]. Following necessary arrangements, they were safely transferred from Khartoum to Port Sudan, and from there onwards to the Jeddah port,” Kanaani said Saturday.
On Saturday, sounds of airstrikes, anti-aircraft weaponry and artillery rocked Khartoum, and dark smoke rose over parts of the city.
Fighting between the army and the RSF continued despite the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Friday, when strikes by air, tanks and artillery rocked Khartoum and the adjacent cities of Bahri and Ombdurman.
At least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 others wounded so far, according to the United Nations, which believes the actual toll is much higher.
The violence has sent tens of thousands of refugees across Sudan’s borders, and threatened to stir instability across a volatile swathe of Africa between the Sahel and the Red Sea.