US embassy evacuated in Sudan by SEAL Team 6

Liaquat Ali

U.S. special operations teams rapidly evacuated all U.S. Embassy staff from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, Saturday, flying them out by helicopter at night to a military base in Djibouti. All 70 staffers were reported safe.

About 100 members of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six and the Army’s 3rd Special Forces Group led the evacuation. Diplomatic staffers boarded three MH-47 Chinook helicopters in a landing zone inside the embassy and were flown out of the country.

In a briefing, the operation was described as “fast and clean” by Lt. General D.A. Sims, director of operations for Joint Staff J3, who said teams were in the embassy compound for less than an hour.

The evacuation and embassy closure – characterized as “temporary” by John Bass, undersecretary for management ambassador – was ordered as cease-fire talks between rival military factions in Sudan failed.

The bitter power struggle is between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

The military is in charge of Sudan, but the RSF wants a stronger role in running the country. The two factions have been fighting as Sudanese civilians clamor for a democratic government.

The U.S. evacuation started at 9 a.m. Eastern time, or 3 p.m. in Khartoum, when three MH-47 helicopters left Djibouti and landed in Ethiopia for refueling.

The aircraft then flew about three hours at low altitude in the dark at about 115 mph to reach Khartoum.

Helicopters did not encounter opposition fire, the military said. Embassy staff were flown to naval base Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. They were then taken to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.