Germany steps up evacuation from Sudan amid worsening unrest

BERLIN

Germany on Monday said that around 300 people have been evacuated from Sudan as violence escalates in the North African country.

“We were able to get about 300 people out of the greater Khartoum region. Half of them are Germans and the others come from over 20 other nations, mostly Europeans,” German Defense Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz told media representatives in Berlin.

He added that German special armed forces were involved in the evacuation process.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Christian Wagner said the evacuation would continue throughout the day.

“We plan to continue this evacuation today. Of course, that depends very much on the security situation on the ground,” he said.

Wagner added that he could not provide an exact figure as to how many Germans are still trapped in Sudan.

The German military started evacuating people from the embattled country in northeast Africa on Sunday. Three Airbus A400M Bundeswehr aircraft from the Wunstorf Air Base were involved.

The three Bundeswehr aircraft took off from Al-Asrak in Jordan towards Sudan and landed at an airport near the capital Khartoum. More than 1,000 women and men from the German military are involved in the operation.