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“Sudan's army and a paramilitary force battled on Khartoum's outskirts on Wednesday, undermining a truce in their 11-day conflict, but the army expressed willingness to extend the ceasefire… Since fighting erupted on April 15, air strikes and artillery have killed at least 512 people, wounded nearly 4,200, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in the vast nation where a third of the 46 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid.” Reuters
“All U.S. government personnel were evacuated from Washington's embassy in Khartoum, as well as a small number of diplomatic personnel from other countries, U.S. officials said on Saturday… The U.S. does not anticipate the security situation in the country changing in the near term, [Under Secretary of State for Management John] Bass said, adding that Washington does not foresee coordinating a U.S. government evacuation of American citizens in Sudan now or in coming days.” Reuters
Many on both sides criticize the Biden administration’s failure to evacuate American citizens in the country:
“Until very recently, the evacuation of noncombatants from conflict zones—known as a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation—was a relatively common and quintessentially American mission… No such effort is being proposed in Sudan… [Bass] noted that the State Department has had a travel advisory in place for more than a decade cautioning Americans not to travel to Sudan. Sudan is not the first country with a travel advisory to need an evacuation…
“A NEO is most likely to be needed in a situation where security deteriorates rapidly and without warning, as has been the case in Sudan… American citizens living abroad can hardly be expected to have predicted a crisis that intelligence agencies failed to see coming. For the U.S. government to allow its citizens to languish in a war-ravaged country on the grounds that they failed to predict the unpredictable is contrary to our values and at odds with the type of moral leadership the U.S. has long aspired to project outside its borders.”
Elliot Ackerman, The Atlantic
“India estimated it had just 3,000 residents in Sudan, yet the world's most populous country managed to launch a rescue mission, ‘Operation Kaveri,’ for its citizens earlier this week, with hundreds already moved to Saudi Arabia. The first rescue mission for citizens of the United Kingdom touched down in Cyprus on Monday, and the French foreign minister estimates the country has evacuated 500 people, nearly half of whom came from other countries, including the U.S…
“On Monday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the U.S. had begun to ‘facilitate’ the evacuation of the Americans by land, but that no U.S. troops are on the ground. The result is emblematic of the administration's entire foreign policy: under Biden, Americans depend on other countries for safety.”
Tiana Lowe, Washington Examiner
Other opinions below.
“Popular resistance to Mr. Bashir’s government led to months of unrest and opened the door to his overthrow as hundreds of thousands of protesters took to Sudan’s streets. Such popular movements are inspiring, but they have consistently failed to generate the organization and power needed to create democratic states across the region. As usual, American officials fundamentally overestimated both the power and the competence of local democratic allies…
“The other force on which the U.S. relied was the economic power of the American-led world order. The 2011 secession of South Sudan cost Sudan 75% of its oil reserve fields, and continuing conflict in and around the oil-rich border areas has reduced production in both countries. With heavy debt burdens, galloping inflation and a restive population, Sudan was desperate to escape American sanctions, attract new investment, and gain access to funds at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank…
“Economic isolation helped undermine Mr. Bashir and paved the way to his downfall. American strategists hoped, not entirely unreasonably, that similar pressure would force the army and the RSF to respect American red lines enough to make at least some token cosmetic gestures in the direction of democracy. The failure of this calculation is behind the violence in Khartoum.”
Walter Russell Mead, Wall Street Journal
“In an all too familiar pattern, the White House is telling American citizens stranded in war-torn Sudan that they are on their own now… The standard operating procedure for the Biden administration is to violate a long-held American motto – leave no American behind. Team Biden is known for leaving thousands of Americans behind in dangerous hot spots. Remember, Biden was supposed to be the expert on foreign policy. He was bringing back normal to the White House. What happened to all that expertise?”
Karen Townsend, Hot Air
“When conflict did not end in Sudan after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which marked the end of two decades of civil conflict, the international community fell into a familiar pattern of never-ending peace negotiations… Yet the problem is that conflict resolution focused on signing peace agreements that split power between armed groups — no matter how many provisions on political reforms are added — rarely leads to sustainable peace…
“Armed groups and dictatorial regimes know that as long as they are participating in a peace process, international pressures will eventually — often quickly — ebb. If they are pressed into signing an agreement, there are typically very few effective mechanisms to hold them to it… If the international community continues to prioritize the voices of the armed and corrupt over those seeking real political reform and representation, we can expect nothing less than the continued cycle of violence and human suffering.”
Jacqueline Burns, New York Times
“The U.N. and others should have robust setups at the refugee camps receiving those fleeing, and yet we see little movement. The lack of extensive U.S. media coverage of what is happening on the ground, or outrage at this attack on civilians in Africa, is saddening but unsurprising. The next few days in Sudan are critical…
“Governments worldwide, including the U.S., have a responsibility to help their citizens get to safety. But their responsibility does not end there as the humanitarian situation inside the country continues to deteriorate and U.N. agencies warn of imminent shortages in food, medicine and water. Unless international assistance arrives soon, the rest of the Sudanese people, those who cannot afford the hundreds of dollars it now costs to get a bus to the border or don’t have foreign passports or visas will be trapped in a burgeoning war — with no way out.”
Sherine Tadros, Los Angeles Times
