In the two weeks since war broke out in Sudan, over 33,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports. As the conflict escalates, some in the West are in the meantime mulling whether to grant asylum to those Sudanese fleeing the violence.
According to the UN agency, the great majority of such refugees are women and girls. Some 20,000 went to Chad; 6,000 to the neighboring Central African Republic; 3,500 to Ethiopia, the report, released on April 28th, noted. Another 75,000 people have been displaced as the fighting rages on.
According to the latest estimate, the conflict has left 528 people dead and more than 4,500 injured.
On April 15th, a bitter rivalry between the Sudanese army, under Army General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), erupted into violence.
While several ceasefires—partly through international pressure—had been agreed on so that citizens could be given respite in their search for safety, none thus far have been respected, including last weekend’s.
On Saturday evening of April 29th, and throughout the next day, heavy fighting was observed in the nation’s capital of Khartoum near the army headquarters and the presidential palace.
Various foreign governments have gradually been getting their citizens out. On Sunday, the U.K.’s Foreign Office announced an extra evacuation flight for British nationals scheduled for Monday, May 1st.
According to its press release, that flight “follows the UK’s successful evacuation operation from Wadi Saeeda near Khartoum, which has evacuated 2,122 people on 23 flights.”
Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement that “we continue to press all diplomatic levers to secure a long-term ceasefire and end the bloodshed,” and that a “stable transition to civilian rule is the best way to ensure the security and prosperity of the Sudanese people.” Since the 2019 ouster of dictator Omar Al-Bashir, the nation had been led by a de facto military junta.
Over the past few days, similar steps have been taken by the U.S., France, and the Netherlands.
Thus far, over two hundred Dutch nationals have been brought to safety via Defense Ministry aircraft and flights from other countries. The eighth and final evacuation flight from Sudan, carrying sixty, landed at Eindhoven Airport on Sunday.
France has evacuated over a thousand citizens since the outbreak of hostilities.
The U.S. is also pulling out. Its State Department said on Saturday, April 29th that a “convoy carrying U.S citizens, locally employed staff, and nationals from allied and partner countries” had arrived at Port Sudan from where they would assist “U.S. citizens and others who are eligible” to travel onward to Saudi Arabia.
“Intensive negotiations by the United States with the support of our regional and international partners enabled the security conditions that have allowed the departure of thousands of foreign and U.S. citizens,” the State Department went on to note.
“We continue,” it added, “to call on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to end the fighting that is endangering civilians,” as it warned U.S. citizens “not to travel to Sudan.”
Last Friday, a French plane arrived in Chad, where the majority of Sudanese refugees had fled, carrying staff from the United Nations and various international humanitarian non-profit organizations.
On Sunday, April 30th, UN Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted that the “scale and speed of what is unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented,” and that “in light of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis,” he had dispatched Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths to the region.
While on his way, Griffiths tweeted that he would go and “see how we can bring immediate relief to the people impacted.”
It is unclear whether “immediate relief” entails those refugees requesting to be given asylum in other countries, including those in the West—a process which the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) helps facilitate.
On April 26th, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman showed herself to be open to the notion. While speaking to GB News, she said that “there are safe and legal routes that are on offer,” and that Westminster works with the UNHCR “around the world whereby people in humanitarian disasters or conflict situations who want to seek asylum in the UK can apply via the UNHCR out in the region.”
