Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told the Sky TG24 broadcaster that around 19 Italian tourists had been evacuated from the northeastern African nation, while around 140 Italian citizens remain in Sudan's capital of Khartoum. Italian air force jets are on standby in Djibouti, but the evacuation's timeframe depends on the course of the conflict, he added.
Spain followed suit and decided to evacuate around 50 people, including its own citizens and nationals of other European and Latin American countries, from Sudan amid the ongoing fighting, the Efe news agency reported, citing sources. Spain's military transport planes have been stationed in Djibouti for two days, the report said.
In Sweden, the parliament gave the go-ahead on Sunday morning to the government's plan to send a military detachment to Sudan to help Swedish citizens and diplomats flee the country, the Sweden Posts outlet reported. The mandate allows for a contingent of up to 400 servicemen, although in practice it will be much smaller, possibly consisting of under 150 people, the report said.
A number of countries have been evacuating their nationals and diplomats in cooperation with other African and Middle Eastern countries for land and air transit. The United States has evacuated its embassy staff from Khartoum but not regular US nationals. Russia has evacuated its nationals in Sudan's conflict areas to its embassy in Khartoum.
On April 15, violent clashes broke out between the Sudanese regular army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, with the epicenter in Khartoum. Government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese military, issued a decree disbanding the RSF. The sides have agreed to a three-day truce starting Friday for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.