By Canadian Press

Canada to continue air evacuations from Sudan, navy vessels on standby

Apr 29, 2023 | 10:31 AM

OTTAWA — Efforts to bring Canadians home from Sudan will continue for as long as possible amid escalating violence and deteriorating safety conditions, federal Defence Minister Anita Anand said Saturday.

At least one evacuation flight is planned by the Canadian military on Saturday, she said. It would be the fifth to leave the Sudanese capital of Khartoum since Thursday.

About 221 people were on board two aircraft that departed on Friday, including 68 Canadians and six permanent residents, Anand said. Approximately 375 Canadians known to be in the country have left on Canadian-led flights or on those operated by allies, she added.

“We are going to continue flights as long as possible, but I will say that the situation is dynamic,” Anand told reporters at at morning news conference. “… We are examining all options.”

Those options, she said, involve exploring evacuation efforts by land or sea. Two navy vessels bound for the Indo-Pacific region have instead been redirected to remain near the city of Port Sudan in case they can be of future use in getting Canadians home, Anand said.

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She declined to comment on other options, but said steps taken by other allied countries may guide Canada’s efforts.

“The United States did execute a convoy yesterday, and that is the kind of initiative that we are tracking,” she said, stressing for the second day in a row that the window for air evacuations is closing.

Sudan’s capital of Khartoum, a city of some five million people, has been transformed into a front line in the grinding conflict between Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the commander of Sudan’s military, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. The two weeks of bloodshed and strife between the two sides has dashed once-euphoric hopes of Sudan’s transition to a democracy.

Canada’s evacuation efforts ramped up later than some allied countries and now look to continue slightly longer. Britain said it was ending its evacuation flights Saturday after demand for spots on the planes had declined. Officials there say more than 1,500 people have been flown out of the country so far.

About 1,800 Canadians notified Global Affairs Canada that they were in Sudan.

Global Affairs Canada has previously said about 400 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families have asked for consular assistance, but only a fraction of them want help leaving the country.

About 300 Canadians have already been flown to safe third countries amid a significant uptick in violence in Sudan over the past two weeks, officials said on Friday. Others have left on their own, making the journey to neighbouring countries by car or bus.

More than 50,000 refugees — mostly women and children — have crossed over the western border to Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, the United Nations said, raising fears of wider instability. Ethnic fighting and turmoil has scarred South Sudan and the Central African Republic while Chad’s own democratic transition has stalled after a coup.

Those who escape Khartoum face more obstacles on their way to safety. The overland journey to Port Sudan, where ships then evacuate people via the Red Sea, has proven long and risky.

Airlifts from the country have also posed challenges, with a Turkish evacuation plane hit by gunfire outside Khartoum on Friday.

On Saturday — despite a cease-fire extended under heavy international pressure — residents said clashes continued around the presidential palace, the headquarters of the state broadcaster and a military base in Khartoum. The battles sent thick columns of black smoke billowing over the city skyline.

Anand said Canada welcomed the ceasefire and redoubled her calls for a peaceful end to the ongoing violence. The Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate estimates the fighting has killed more than 400 civilians and injured over 2,000 since it erupted on April 15.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2023.

— With files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press