IrishTimes.ie - Defence Forces team being deployed to Sudan to help evacuate Irish citizens - 24 Apr 23
More than 150 Irish citizens in Sudan seek help as evacuation operation in Khartoum at ‘highly sensitive’ stage
A team of Irish special forces soldiers and diplomats is being dispatched to Sudan to assist Irish people in leaving the country in response to the worsening violence there.
Up to 12 members of the Army Ranger Wing, the Defence Forces special operations unit, are to accompany a small number of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs. They will form an Emergency Consular Assistance Team (Ecat), similar to the team that aided in the evacuation of Kabul in 2021 after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Some Irish officials were due to arrive in Djibouti on Sunday. According to the Government the duration of the mission will be dependent on the progress that can be made and the security situation on the ground.
The Irish contingent was understood to be travelling in stages with about four on the way to the region on Sunday night. The rest will depart Monday or Tuesday.
The Ecat is to travel to Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa and will use this as a staging post, along with several other EU countries.
The plan is to travel onwards on either French, German or Dutch military aircraft to an airport in Sudan. Irish troops will establish a security cordon on the ground and help Irish citizens to an evacuation area where they will be processed by department officials before being flown back to Djibouti on the aircraft of a partner nation.
Ireland must rely on EU allies as the Defence Forces has no aircraft capable of carrying out the mission, an issue that also arose during the Kabul evacuation.
Twelve is the maximum number of troops that can be deployed overseas without triggering the “triple-lock” mechanism for overseas missions which requires the approval of the Government and the Dáil and the backing of a United Nations resolution.
International efforts to evacuate diplomatic personnel and other citizens continued on Sunday as battles between two rival Sudanese commanders entered their ninth day.
More than 150 Irish citizens in Sudan have contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs seeking assistance.
With a series of ceasefires failing to hold, the death toll has now passed 420, including 264 civilians, and more than 3,700 have been wounded, according to local and international NGOs. However, most analysts believe the true total of fatalities and injuries is much higher.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar convened an incorporeal Cabinet meeting on Sunday in relation to the proposal to send Irish soldiers to help with the evacuation efforts. The plan was approved by Ministers.
France has been taking the lead in relation to plans to assist EU citizens to leave Sudan.
Aia Mohammed, a Galway-based doctor, said her father Dr Murtada Mohamed and her mother Eiman Idris were among about 150 EU citizens who made it into the embassy but about 50 others were not allowed in “because they were full”.
A later email advised Irish citizens to make their way to the Spanish ambassador’s residence to join an evacuation convoy for EU citizens. A further email later advised Italy was organising an airlift from the capital’s Wadi Seidna airport, to Djibouti.
All US government personnel were evacuated from Washington’s embassy in Khartoum, as well as a small number of diplomatic personnel from other countries, US officials said on Saturday.
The operation evacuated fewer than 100 people, officials said. France said it was evacuating diplomats on Sunday.
The UK’s diplomatic staff and their dependants were also evacuated from Khartoum, but UK nationals still living in Sudan remained in the country.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr Varadkar said: “The situation in the Sudanese capital Khartoum has got worse in the last few days, and violence is being reported across the city. The Irish Defence Forces personnel and Department of Foreign Affairs officers being deployed will make every effort to provide advice and assistance to the 150 or so Irish nationals in Sudan.
“The situation on the ground in Sudan remains extremely volatile and I wish the Ecat and Defence Forces team every success in this mission.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said: “Today’s decision by Government is a continuation of the substantial, intensive work that the Department of Foreign Affairs has been engaged in since this recent outbreak of violence in Sudan.
“Above all, our primary aim is to offer our citizens every assistance through what has been an extremely difficult and challenging time.”
The department said Irish citizens who had not already done so should urgently register with the Embassy of Ireland in Kenya (which is accredited to Sudan) at dfa.ie/travel/citizens-registration.
Citizens are advised to follow the embassy on Twitter (@IrlEmbKenya) for updated advice. If urgent, the embassy’s out-of-hours consular assistance phone line can be contacted at +254 716 353 999, and the department can be contacted at +353 1 408 2000.
On Saturday, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Seán Fleming described reports of evacuations of foreign citizens as being “premature” arising out of safety concerns at airports.
“We are talking to our international colleagues, particularly France and the UK. There are reports of evacuations happening and I think that’s premature, the airports aren’t safe to go in and out of, so it’s important that the full facts of the situation are taken into consideration.
“There’s no security people can rely on to get planes in and out. All of that has to be examined before any evacuation can take place,” Mr Fleming told Saturday with Colm Ó’Mongáin on RTÉ Radio.
Among those who are hoping to be evacuated from Sudan is a primary school teacher from Derry who is living in Khartoum in Sudan. The man, who is only going by the name of Brian for safety reasons, has urged the Irish Government to increase its efforts to bring him and his family to safety.
He told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio on Friday that he and his family were safe. “We’ve been spending the bulk of our time in our basement. It seems safer to be below ground. We are here in Khartoum. And the situation is declining rapidly.
“[This morning] it doesn’t sound like a ceasefire. Let’s put it that way. I’m hearing bursts of gunfire. I’m hearing thuds of shelling. So yeah, I mean, it seems that whatever ceasefire was verbally communicated or sort of agreed, hasn’t been upheld. And it seems that the fighting is continuing.”
The father of two said his 18-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son were “bearing up okay”.
“They are processing this in their own way. We are trying to be as calm as possible for our sake and for their sake. They are in communication with friends who are in different parts of the town so they are aware of the urgency of this and the danger of it.”
He said being evacuated “would be the ideal situation”.
“I just want to communicate the urgency of our situation. You know, I want to speak up on behalf of all Irish citizens here. And, like I say, I know that conversations are happening. I read The Irish Times story with Cathal Berry [Independent TD and former Army Ranger] quoted talking about how efforts need to be stepped up.
“I just want to communicate the urgency of it and, whatever efforts are being made, if you could please, please, please step them up, if possible, co-ordinate, collaborate, take whatever steps are necessary.
“We have registered our details and they [the embassy] are fully aware that the ideal scenario is for us to be extricated, removed and evacuated. It is very clear that that is what our desired outcome would be. It [the violence] happened very suddenly and unexpectedly.”
Members of the Sudanese community in Ireland are also reflecting on the outbreak of violence in their native country. Dr Osama Ali, general secretary of the Sudanese community in Cork, says that what is happening in Khartoum doesn’t look like “unrest between two parties” but a “full-blown war”.
The paediatric consultant at Mercy University Hospital in Cork said: “I was born in Khartoum city. It is a lovely city. I have most of my family there. It is very hard to see areas that I recognise now completely destroyed. The city is reaching a point where there is utter and complete destruction.”
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