US and UK troops moving close to Sudan for possible evacuation

US and British troops are being moved close to Sudan amid growing speculation they could be involved in some sort of evacuation or rescue of western nationals trapped in the country by the outbreak of fighting a week ago.

Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said on Friday afternoon that the US had deployed military forces “in theatre” – meaning in countries relatively close to Sudan – to give the White House choices as to how to proceed, with 19,000 US citizens estimated as being stuck in the country.

“Our focus is to make sure that we continue to do planning, that we create and maintain as many options for our president as possible,” he said at a press conference in Ramstein, Germany.

British officials said the Ministry of Defence was also engaged in “prudent planning”, but would not otherwise comment what action the UK might be willing to take in a fluid and potentially dangerous situation.

French defence officials visiting Washington discussed Sudan evacuation contingencies with their Pentagon counterparts on Thursday: “It’s a very difficult situation, but of course we are monitoring the situation very closely and preparing together with our partners and allies in the region,” one French official said.

Other British military sources said some units were being readied in case they would be needed, but any action that would involve the UK and other countries would almost certainly take place in conjunction with the US.

However, a US source indicated that troops might only be deployed to facilitate the departure of US embassy personnel and cautioned that due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum other Americans in the country should not expect a wider US government coordinated evacuation at this time.

The British embassy in Khartoum earlier on Friday said it had set up an emergency line for British citizens trapped by the fighting in Sudan and was trying to compile a list of those wanting to flee the country in an evacuation.

It is thought there are several hundred British citizens in Sudan, where fighting broke out last Saturday between the armed forces and a rival paramilitary group. There is no sign that foreign citizens have yet been systematically targeted or taken hostage in the violence, which has killed more than 400 people.

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The Foreign Office said it was looking at all options to secure a rescue, and has asked British citizens in need of evacuation for their names and locations in Sudan, contact details and whether they want to leave or remain if the security situation allows departures by road or air.

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has cut short a tour of New Zealand and Samoa to return to the UK to focus on its response to the crisis in Sudan, as well as to launch high-level diplomacy in an attempt to move the two warring parties towards a ceasefire.

The Foreign Office was severely criticised for its handling of the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, and Cleverly is believed to have felt he needed to be in the department to oversee potential efforts to evacuate British citizens and diplomats.

Cleverly has been on the phone to foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the hope that the Gulf states can use their influence to ensure ceasefires are honoured.

Many European countries have been preparing military planes to fly into Khartoum to evacuate their citizens, but the airport was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces at the onset of the fighting and remains under RSF control, making it effectively a no-go area for the time being. An overland rescue route looks fraught with dangers too.

The embassy message to British citizens in Sudan urges them to ring a helpline, adding: “You may hear a telephone message stating that our offices are closed. If so, stay on the line and select the option for ‘calling about an emergency involving a British national’ to speak to us.”

British citizens contacted by the BBC said they were hiding in basements, and had supplies of water and food for some days yet. They said they saw no sign of a three-day Eid ceasefire pushed by the UN and US actually taking hold, that they were deeply concerned for British people living closer to Khartoum airport – the scene of some of the fiercest fighting – and that they were likely to run out of water supplies soon.

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The US has said it is moving more Marines towards its base in Djibouti in preparation for a potential attempt at a difficult and complicated evacuation of embassy staff. The state department had said an evacuation of the estimated 19,000 US citizens in Sudan “is currently not safe”.

Japan has also dispatched aircraft and troops to its base in Djibouti in an attempt to evacuate about 60 citizens. According to Japanese news they will remain on standby until the government deems it safe to dispatch them to Sudan. Defence officials have said they are considering ground transportation to carry out evacuations if planes are too difficult.

In a sign of the dangers to aid workers, three UN World Food Program workers have been listed as killed as well as one member of the International Office for Migration.

It is estimated that since Saturday 20,000 refugees have crossed the border into Chad where there are already 400,000 Sudanese refugees.

Nine British Council staff – eight Sudanese and a dual British-Ugandan citizen – who earlier this week had been trapped in their offices in Khartoum have been safely returned to their homes.

“We are relieved to share that all colleagues who were in our office have been evacuated and are now home,” a spokesperson for the UK cultural organisation said. “The safety and security of our colleagues is always our highest priority.”

A staff member, Mohamad Berer, previously said: “We have been given promises by our manager since the beginning that they will evacuate us but nothing has happened, so now we are calling for people on the outside to help get us out. We are terrified; the fighting is all around us. We have been patient, but now honestly we are starting to [be] feeling anxious.”