Pentagon Plans for Possible Evacuation of U.S. Embassy in Sudan
Additional forces are being deployed to the region, spokesman says
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon is preparing forces in east Africa to conduct a possible evacuation of American personnel from Sudan, where fighting in its capital of Khartoum has threatened the security of U.S. diplomats and others.
The Pentagon is “conducting prudent planning” for a variety of contingency operations, a Pentagon spokesman said. It is also deploying additional forces and other capabilities to the region to help with the possible evacuation of personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, said Lt. Col. Phil Ventura, the spokesman.
Officials wouldn’t comment further on future operations, Col. Ventura said. The Pentagon didn’t mention plans to help get other U.S. citizens out of Sudan.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday no decision had been made to evacuate American personnel. The focus now, he said, is on urging both sides to abide by the cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to reach people who need it.
The State Department said that it continues to call upon both sides of the conflict to extend a cease-fire through the three-day Eid holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which began after sunset on Thursday.
As for U.S. Embassy personnel in Khartoum, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said: “To our understanding they are safe,” suggesting that no staffers were injured in the convoy attack earlier this week.
Mr. Kirby said government officials are still sheltering where they are. Embassy officials are attempting to get all government officials in one place.
Although any operations were still nascent, the Biden administration is eager to avoid the evacuation operations that occurred in August 2021 in Kabul, where the State Department was at first reluctant to slim down its embassy staffing, leaving a crisis in the remaining days of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
The U.S. was deploying forces to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, in east Africa, where the U.S. has a robust counterterrorism presence, quick reaction forces, and plenty of room as a staging area to deploy forces—and, potentially, to hold American personnel until the security situation in Sudan stabilizes or they can be brought home.
The deployment of U.S. forces to Djibouti was earlier reported by Politico on Thursday.
On Monday, a U.S. Embassy convoy was fired upon by gunmen believed to have been linked to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, adding that there were no casualties.
U.S. officials said there was no indication that U.S. Embassy personnel were being targeted by either side of the conflict, but the concern, instead, was that they could get caught in the crossfire between the two factions. There are also efforts under way to account for any Americans who might be registered with the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, which are estimated at roughly 19,000.
U.S. officials said their priority was to get all American personnel sheltered in one place in the event that an evacuation becomes necessary and feasible, something they haven’t yet figured out how to do because the airport is closed and conditions on land remain too volatile.
A power struggle within Sudan’s military is posing severe security and humanitarian risks to Khartoum’s populace as a violent disagreement between the country’s two top generals enters its sixth day.
Families scrambled for shelter and food as power outages exacerbated the problem, and people ducked explosions and bodies of victims in the streets went unclaimed, as it was too dangerous to retrieve them.
This week, the Sudanese military, commanded by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto head of state, continued airstrikes on the Rapid Support Forces, a state-sponsored militia led by Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy of Gen. Burhan.
The two military leaders had joined forces in 2019 to oust Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s longtime dictator, and in 2021 they toppled a civilian-led transitional government that was formed to pave the way for Sudanese elections. That led to sanctions from the U.S. and other Western governments. More recently, the two generals squabbled over who would lead the country’s military forces as a deadline to hand over power to civilian leaders approached.
The limited options for getting U.S. personnel out of Sudan is raising concerns among Biden administration officials, who are still dealing with the fallout from the botched evacuation of thousands of Americans, Afghans and others during the August 2021 withdrawal from Kabul. Risk aversion has been significantly higher since the Afghanistan withdrawal, as was reflected when U.S. personnel were evacuated from the embassy in Kyiv weeks before Russia invaded.
Write to Gordon Lubold at gordon.lubold@wsj.com and Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com
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Appeared in the April 21, 2023, print edition as 'U.S. Prepares for Possible Exit at Sudan Embassy'.