The Italian Foreign Ministry has coordinated the removal of 136 individuals, including Portuguese nationals, from the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, to Djibouti.
“105 Italians and 31 foreigners, including Portuguese, Australians, Greeks, British, and Swedes, have been transferred to Djibouti,” the Italian government announced Sunday evening.
The operation was conducted “in collaboration with other European and allied nations,” and a “international air bridge authorized to reach the Djibouti military base” was established.
As part of the movement for the departure of foreign nationals and diplomatic personnel, Spain announced on Sunday evening that it had successfully airlifted roughly a hundred people from Sudan to Djibouti, including Portuguese nationals.
In addition to Spaniards, the passengers include Portuguese, Italians, Poles, Irish, Mexicans, Venezuelans, Colombians, and Argentines, according to the Spanish Ministry of Defense.
The Portuguese government stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) were “working in coordination with other allied nations to ensure the safe withdrawal of Portuguese nationals from Sudan.
All known nationals in Sudan have been contacted, and the various situations are being monitored, according to the Foreign Ministry.
When fighting broke out in Sudan, the MFA informed Lusa that slightly more than “a dozen” Portuguese were present.
The Spanish plane “is flying with more than 30 Spaniards and another 70 European and Latin American citizens taken from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, to Djibouti, after an operation coordinated by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation and Defense,” according to the Government of Spain.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, de facto leader of the country since a coup in 2021, and a former deputy turned rival, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have been engaged in a violent conflict in Sudan since April 15.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the conflict has resulted in more than 420 deaths and more than 3,700 injuries.
Defense joins the MFA in efforts to withdraw the Portuguese from Sudan
