Over the weekend, Spanish citizens caught in the midst of the violent conflict between warring military factions in Sudan were finally able to escape the country.
The conflict erupted after several weeks of tension between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group that helped the army seize power in a coup in 2021. However, tensions escalated when the RSF was proposed to be integrated into the military, which raised the risk of civil war.
On Saturday night, 22 April, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, confirmed that Spanish citizens were successfully evacuated from Sudan. “The air force planes have taken off from Khartoum with our citizens on board,” Albares announced on Twitter.
In addition to Spanish citizens, staff from the Spanish embassy in Sudan and other European and Latin American citizens were also aboard the flight to Djibouti. The operation was jointly carried out by the Foreign Affairs and Defence ministries, and more than 30 Spaniards and approximately 70 citizens of nine different nationalities, including Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Irish, Mexican, Venezuelan, Colombian, Argentinian and Sudanese, were among the evacuees.
The operation began at Djibouti airport on Friday, with the assistance of four Air Force planes. Nearly 200 ground and air military personnel, along with support from the Orion detachment based in Djibouti, took part in the evacuation, including security arrangements to prevent incidents during the transfer of passengers from the embassy to the airport.
While most of the fighting is happening in the capital city of Khartoum, clashes were also reported across the country, resulting in at least 185 deaths and thousands of injuries within the first three days of the conflict. Some Spanish soldiers remained deployed in Sudan, while others had voluntarily decided to leave or stay in the country by their own means.
