US begins evacuation of American citizens from war-torn Sudan

The United States' first coordinated efforts to evacuate its private citizens from Sudan took place on Friday when a convoy of buses carrying approximately 300 Americans departed the war-torn capital of Khartoum and began a 525-mile journeyto the Red Sea.

Armed American drones flew high above the convoy, keeping a close eye out for potential threats. After securing security guarantees from the enemies, the United Nations and numerous other countries have also evacuated their citizens overland, reported The New York Times.

It raised new concerns about why the United States had taken so long to plan a civilian evacuation from Sudan, which was home to approximately 16,000 Americans, many of whom were dual nationals, when Western and Persian Gulf allies had moved faster and evacuated manymore people.

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StartingTuesday, Britain has evacuated 1,573 people, the majority of whom are British citizens, from an airfield north of Khartoum. Another 1,700 people were airlifted out of harm's way by Germany and France. According to Saudi authorities, at least 3,000 more people from various nations were evacuated by boat from Port Sudan to Jeddah.

Other nations are already reducing their evacuation efforts as the U.S. steps up its own.Due to a "significant decline" in demand for seats, Britain announced on Friday that it would stop operating its airlift at 6 pmon Saturday.

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The disparity could be a result of the American government taking a more cautious approach to airlifting civilians out of an unpredictably chaotic conflict zone with no clearly defined front lines. This concern appeared to be partially justified on Friday when Turkey reported that one of its military aircraft had come under fire as it landed at the airfield on the edge of Khartoum.

Other Americans have made it to theborder on their own by road, crossing into Egypt and Ethiopia, joining tens of thousands of Sudanese who have made the same journey. The United States has assisted American citizens in getting seats on flights out of Khartoum organised by allied nations, and occasionally on convoys going through Khartoum to the airfield.

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As a result of a demand that was much lower than that of other Western countries, the United States first said that it would not evacuate American civilians or their families. Only "dozens" of Americans had expressed a desire to leave, according to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Monday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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