Western and other nations escalate plans to evacuate diplomats from Sudan

Western and other nations have intensified increasingly desperate efforts to evacuate diplomats and their dependents from Khartoum, as battles raged in the centre of the Sudanese capital and in its twin city of Omdurman.

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 in more than nine days of fighting is much higher.

The US evacuated diplomats, embassy workers and families from Khartoum on Saturday night, sending Chinook helicopters carrying special forces on Saturday night to evacuate about 70 Americans from a landing zone at the embassy to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia, according to US officials.

On the battered streets of Khartoum there was anger.

A woman preparing to evacuate Khartoum for the town of Kosti, the capital of the White Nile state 300km (185 miles) to the south, said she was scared by what the battling forces in the city might do once foreigners had gone.

The successful operations have increased the pressure on other western nations to get their nationals out of Sudan amid the continued fighting.

On Sunday, internet and phone services appeared to have collapsed across much of country. Medicine, fuel and food were scarce in much of Khartoum, while a combination of fighting and looting made leaving home to search for essential provisions dangerous.

A new declared truce that was to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr collapsed on Saturday. The ceasefire was supposed to allow thousands of Khartoum residents who have been trapped by the fighting to reach safety and visit family during the Muslim holiday of Eid.

The owner of one of the few shops still open in Omdurman described thieves on motorbikes snatching handbags from female customers.

Both warring factions have said they will help facilitate the evacuation of a number of diplomats and nationals from multiple countries.

The Greek foreign minister said the country had dispatched aircraft and special forces to its ally Egypt in preparation for an evacuation of 120 Greek and Cypriot nationals from Khartoum. Most of them have sought shelter in recent days at a Greek Orthodox cathedral in the capital, Nikos Dendias said.

The Netherlands sent two air force Hercules C-130 planes and an Airbus A330 to Jordan in advance of a possible rescue mission, while Italy has dispatched military jets to the Gulf of Aden state of Djibouti to prepare for the evacuation of 140 Italian nationals in Sudan, many of whom have already taken refuge in the embassy.

The roads from Khartoum north to Egypt and to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, 520 miles (840km) away, offer risky alternatives. Saudi Arabia on Saturday said the kingdom successfully evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries via Port Sudan, from where a navy ship then ferried the evacuees across the Red Sea to the Saudi port of Jeddah.

Jordan, India and Japan are all also standing by to evacuate citizens but face similar logistic challenges.

The UN is also struggling to extract hundreds of international staff, warning that evacuation by land may be the only option. One UN worker said some UN staff have already left, travelling from Khartoum to Port Sudan or from the south-western region of Darfur into neighbouring Chad.

As throughout nine days of street battles, there are reports of civilians in Khartoum and elsewhere trapped in homes, schools and hospitals, or unable to access basic services. In many areas of Khartoum, informal neighbourhood committees have convened to ensure the distribution of vital supplies to the needy. However, these have limited means and many residents of the city of 8 million have fled, cramming into buses for the risky journey north or west.

The Arqin border crossing with Egypt was crowded with about 30 passenger buses holding at least 55 people each, said Suliman al-Kouni, an Egyptian dental student who fled from Khartoum with dozens of other Egyptian students.

Details of the situation outside Khartoum are scarce. Fighting is continuing around the country, especially in the south-west but also in the east.