The United States is moving to situate military forces near the US Embassy in Khartoum ahead of a potential personnel evacuation, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby has said.
"As you probably saw, the Pentagon did announce that they are moving forward to pre-position some military forces and capabilities nearby just for contingency purposes in case they would be needed for any kind of evacuation," said Kirby during a press briefing.
Earlier on Thursday, US Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn was cited by US media as saying that the Pentagon was positioning troops in the African nation Djibouti in preparation for a possible evacuation of US Embassy personnel from Sudan.
"The Department of Defense, through US Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it," Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn is quoted as saying in a US media report.
Most of the fighting is located in Khartoum, where the US Embassy is stationed, and the unrest has stranded many civilians, including embassy staff who are sheltering in place at the compound, which sits eight miles from the international airport.
The troops in Djibouti would be positioned so as to launch a swift evacuation operation that would only bring embassy staff to safety and would not involve a military-led general evacuation of American citizens, US media reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The fighting and bombardments between the two warring sides in Khartoum have left the airport inoperable, leaving the roughly 70 US embassy staff no options to evacuate the city on their own without risking their safety, said the US media report, and US officials familiar with the planning at the State Department have been discussing evacuation options, including ground evacuation, as recently as Thursday morning.
Under consideration is sending the personnel to the nearby Wadi Seidna Air Base, located 14 miles north of Khartoum, for evacuation by air. According to US officials, the United States is also in touch with other countries who have embassies in the Sudanese capital about their potential evacuation plans, the report said.