A US government-organized evacuation convoy from the embattled Sudanese capital of Khartoum has arrived at Port Sudan on the Red Sea. From there, US citizens and others who are eligible to travel are being helped to travel to the Saudi Arabian coastal city of Jeddah, the US State Department said. US media had already reported on Friday about the convoy that was supposed to take around 300 people, mainly Americans, to Port Sudan.
The US military did reconnaissance and surveillance work to secure the evacuations, the Pentagon said. Military ships would also be deployed in the region should their support be needed along the coast. US media reported that the convoy was accompanied by armed US military drones.
Even before the latest convoy, several hundred Americans, in addition to embassy staff, had left Sudan by land, sea or air, a US State Department spokesman said on Friday. The embassy staff and their families were evacuated directly from Khartoum by the US military last weekend.
In north-eastern Sudan, the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting for power for two weeks; since then there has been heavy fighting in Khartoum and other parts of the country.
