We are ending our live coverage of the Sudan ceasefire now. You can read our latest story from Sudan here:
Although we had heard from Blinken that the Sudanese Armed Forces had agreed to the ceasefire, Sudan’s army has now confirmed the agreement on Facebook.
Sudan’s army agreed to a 72-hour truce mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia that will start at midnight on 25 April, the army said in statement on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The RSF confirmed in Khartoum earlier tonight that it had agreed to the ceasefire, starting at midnight, to facilitate humanitarian efforts.
“We affirm our commitment to a complete ceasefire during the truce period”, the RSF said.
The SAF did not immediately comment on the announcement.
A coalition of Sudanese civil society groups that had been part of negotiations on a transition to democracy welcomed the news.
Ahead of the evening truce announcement, airstrikes and ground fighting shook Omdurman, one of three adjacent cities in the capital region, and there were also clashes in capital Khartoum, a Reuters reporter said.
Dark smoke enveloped the sky near the international airport in central Khartoum, adjacent to army headquarters, and booms of artillery fire rattled the surroundings.
Here is more detail on Japan’s evacuations so far.
Japan has evacuated 45 nationals and their spouses from Sudan, and temporarily closed its embassy, prime minister Fumio Kishida and officials said Tuesday.
“A total of 45 people took off from eastern Sudan for Djibouti in the C2 transport aircraft dispatched” by Japanese troops, Kishida told reporters in the early hours of Tuesday.
He said four other Japanese had also been able to move from Sudan to Djibouti and Ethiopia with help from France and international organisations.
A few hours later, Japan’s foreign minister said in a statement that the embassy was now temporarily closed after staff were evacuated.
Japan had said it had roughly 60 citizens in Sudan when it decided to evacuate them.
The foreign ministry will set up a liaison office in Djibouti to continue helping remaining Japanese in Sudan to evacuate, it said.
Summary
Here are the key recent developments in Sudan:
A US-brokered ceasefire between the warring Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces started in Sudan, where hundreds have been killed and thousands have fled since the fighting began. The 72-hour ceasefire was earlier announced by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who welcomed the warring parties’ “commitment to work with partners and stakeholders for permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements”.
A British RAF plane landed at port city in the north-east of Sudan as a British minister said that the UK is evaluating further military options for rescuing non-diplomats from the country by land, sea and air.
Europe has evacuated more than 1,000 citizens, according to Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief.
African countries including Uganda, South Africa and Nigeria have also started evacuating citizens. Kenya has said it will not be withdrawing its diplomats from Sudan as it wants them to help negotiate a “peaceful solution” to the conflict. The foreign secretary Alfred Mutua spoke at a press conference alongside US secretary of state Antony Blinken. On Twitter he went on to say some students have already been withdrawn and the country is in the process of rescuing another 300 people. He called for all Kenyans in Sudan to register with the embassy to enable their evacuation.
The head of the UN, António Guterres, warned that the situation in Sudan could engulf the whole region and that Sudan stands on the “abyss”. He said: “Let me be clear: the United Nations is not leaving Sudan. Our commitment is to the Sudanese people, in support of their wishes for a peaceful and secure future. We stand with them at this terrible time. We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss.”
The French embassy in Khartoum will be closed until further notice. France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, according to the ministry, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports. It has also sent a warship as part of the rescue effort.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has raised concerns about the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner group, operating in Sudan. Wagner, who were founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, have been heavily engaged in the conflict in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. There is now a suggestion the group is active in Sudan. He told a press conference: “We do have deep concern about the engagement of the Prigozhin group – the Wagner group – in Sudan.”
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said that the country has been able to fly more than 300 people out of Sudan.
The US is pushing for a ceasefire between the two warring factions in Sudan to be broadened to help bring the conflict to an end. Secretary of state Antony Blinken told a news conference that was talking “directly” with military leaders. Israel has offered to host ceasefire talks.
The British ambassador to Sudan was on holiday when fighting broke out in the country’s capital Khartoum, according to a report in the Times of London.
Japan’s military aircraft evacuated Japanese nationals and their family members totalling 45 people from Sudan, Kyodo news agency quoted prime minister Fumio Kishida as saying on Monday.
Of the Sudanese who can afford to leave, many are fleeing Khartoum on crowded buses on the more than 900-kilometre desert drive north to Egypt.
Some of the 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who previously fled civil war in their own country are now choosing to return, according to the UN refugee agency.
In Khartoum, street battles have left the sky often blackened by smoke from shelled buildings and torched shops, AFP reports.
“There was a rocket strike in our neighbourhood … it is like nowhere is safe,” resident Tagreed Abdin, an architect, told AFP.
“Morgues are full. Corpses litter the streets” said Attiya Abdallah, head of the doctors’ union, which on Monday reported scores more casualties after sites in south Khartoum were “heavily shelled”.
The US is helping from afar as thousands of Americans left behind in Sudan seek to escape fighting, after the US embassy evacuated all of its diplomatic personnel over the weekend and shut down.
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, defended the decision not to keep US forces or diplomats in Sudan to help its citizens evacuate as several US allies did and as the US has often done in conflict zones in the past.
Instead, Sullivan told reporters, the US was now remotely assisting Americans trying to flee the country by road.
US assistance on Monday included helping Americans link up with convoys of foreigners now attempting to make it through fighting toward safety on Sudan’s eastern border.
The US also is placing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets over the route from the capital, Khartoum, to the country’s main seaport, the Port of Sudan, to scope out safety threats, Sullivan said.
Europe has evacuated more than 1,000 citizens, according to Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief.
France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, while the Dutch defence ministry said a third flight carrying evacuees has left Sudan on Monday evening, transporting people to Jordan. Earlier on Monday, the government said about 60 Dutch nationals were successfully evacuated from Sudan.
Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto said “all Italian civilians” who had asked to leave had been evacuated – 200 people flown out of the country in a military operation on Sunday. Vatican representatives were among those evacuated.
Berlin said Monday three flights had left and a fourth was on its way to airlift a total of 400 people.
A Spanish military plane with 100 passengers, 30 of them Spanish, left Sunday for Djibouti, Madrid said. And Finland said Monday it had evacuated 10 people so far.
Meanwhile, Britain is facing mounting pressure to rescue 4,000 British and dual nationals trapped in Sudan. The government has been criticised for extracting only diplomats and their families.
A UK Foreign Office minister said the government was looking at “every single available option” for rescuing British nationals and stressed the difficulties of such an operation.
Updated
In case you’re just joining us: a three-day ceasefire is now in place in Sudan, and there are hopes that it will hold.
Previous attempted ceasefires have failed over the course of 10 days of fighting that has so far killed at least 427 people and wounded more than 3,700, according to UN agencies.
Hours before the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced the ceasefire, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, had warned that the fighting could “engulf the whole region and beyond”.
Updated
Canada will introduce immigration measures to support Sudanese temporary residents who are in Canada and may be unable to return home due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Sudan, the government said on Monday.
Once the new measures, announced by Canadian immigration minister Sean Fraser are in place, Sudanese nationals can apply to extend their status in Canada and move between temporary streams, allowing them to continue studying, working or visiting family free of charge, the government said in a statement.
To facilitate immigration applications for those still in Sudan so they can travel once it is safe to do so, the Canadian government said it will also prioritise processing completed temporary and permanent residence applications already in the system from people still in the country.
This includes visitor visa applications for eligible immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, it added.
Updated
Hello, this is Helen Sullivan taking over our live coverage of the hostilities in Sudan. If you have questions or see news or information you think may be useful, the best place to get in touch with me is on Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
It's midnight in Sudan, and the ceasefire has begun
The US-brokered ceasefire between the warring Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has officially started in Sudan, where hundreds have been killed and thousands have fled since the fighting began.
The 72-hour ceasefire was earlier announced by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who welcomed the warring parties’ “commitment to work with partners and stakeholders for permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements”.
But the truce is fraught – while agreeing to the ceasefire to support humanitarian efforts, the RSF warned against “the continued violations of the second party in non-compliance with the truce”.
That’s it from me tonight, my colleague Helen Sullivan will take over.
Updated
The minister for the armed forces James Heappey said it is “too dangerous” to have British troops rescue UK citizens trapped in war-torn Sudan.
During a Monday night appearance on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, Heappey said: “I think people will have the evacuation from Kabul very firmly in mind. That’s the last time we saw this sort of event. But Kabul was very different.”
When asked whether it was too dangerous to try to use British forces to evacuate people from Sudan, Heappey answered: “Yes. The danger is that other than the very tight and controlled mission that we did Saturday into Sunday to extract the diplomats over which we had a very tight degree of control.”
“Beyond that, we would effectively be inserting foreign troops, not just us, there’ll be other countries that would want to do it, into the parts of Khartoum that has been the most hotly fought over,” he continued.
Updated
RSF agrees to ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian efforts and evacuations
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to the United States-mediated 72-hour ceasefire in order to facilitate humanitarian efforts and evacuations, the paramilitary group said on Monday.
In a statement posted on Twitter, an RSF spokesperson said:
Based on mediation from the United States of America, the Rapid Support Forces agreed to a humanitarian truce for a period of 72 hours, starting at midnight tonight, in order to open humanitarian corridors, facilitate the movement of citizens and residents, enable them to fulfill their needs, reach hospitals and safe areas, and evacuate diplomatic missions.
The Rapid Support Forces affirm their full readiness to cooperate, coordinate and provide all facilities that enable expatriates and missions to leave the country safely.
The RSF continued with a warning “against the continued violations of the second party in non-compliance with the truce”.
Updated
Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF agree to 72-hour ceasefire starting at midnight, says Blinken
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24.
The statement by Blinken reads:
Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours. During this period, the United States urges the SAF and RSF to immediately and fully uphold the ceasefire.
To support a durable end to the fighting, the United States will coordinate with regional and international partners, and Sudanese civilian stakeholders, to assist in the creation of a committee to oversee the negotiation, conclusion, and implementation of a permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements in Sudan.
We will continue to work with the Sudanese parties and our partners toward the shared goal of a return to civilian government in Sudan.
Updated
The UK government has a military team exploring the situation in Sudan as thousands of British nationals are stuck in the country, Reuters reports.
Britain’s armed forces minister James Heappey announced on Monday that a UK military team is doing reconnaissance as the government held an emergency meeting on Monday about how to help an estimated 4,000 Britons evacuate the country.
Heappey and other British officials are facing criticism for a slower extraction effort, as other countries have already begun evacuating citizens.
Italian authorities evacuated 96 people from Sudan on Monday, as other nations hurry to evacuate their citizens out of the country amid a surge of violence, Reuters reports.
On Monday, two Italian military air crafts carried 83 Italian nationals and 13 citizens of different nationalities out of the region. All 96 people were evacuated from Khartoum and taken to Djibouti, where a plane took off.
At least 427 people have been killed amid the eruption in fighting starting 15 April.
Three hospitals have also lost service and residential areas have become largely engulfed in fighting.
Updated
UN António Guterres urged the UN security council to intervene in the situation in Sudan.
Referring to the 15 council members, Guterres urged the security council to help return Sudan to a democratic transition following a 2021 military coup that occurred after the ousting of Islam autocrat Omar al-Bashir, reported Reuters.
“We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss ... We stand with them at this terrible time,” he said.
Guterres added that he had authorised temporary relocation of some UN personnel and their families.
The security council has planned a meeting on Sudan for Tuesday.
Egypt’s ambassador in Sudan has denied reports that the country’s assistant military attache was killed, Reuters reports:
Egyptian ambassador in Khartoum denied a Sudanese Army report that the country’s assistant military attache was killed by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ fire in the Sudanese capital, Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the Sudanese army said in a statement that the Egyptian assistant military attache in Sudan was killed by RSF’s fire while he was driving his car in Khartoum.
Egypt’s assistant military attache in Sudan was killed by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ fire while he was driving his car in Sudan’s capital city Khartoum, said the Sudanese army in a statement on Monday, Reuters reported.
The White House announced on Monday its demands for a ceasefire between warring parties in Sudan as it works to evacuate its citizens.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the US is facilitating travel for US citizens and that many have begun arriving to Port Sudan, Reuters reported.
Sullivan also confirmed that there are no current plans to put peacekeeping troops on the ground in Sudan.
Thousands of Americans, many with dual citizenship, remain in Sudan and are being urged to shelter in place as fighting continues.
“We would like to help as many Americans go as possible,” said Sullivan.
Summary
The time is approaching 8pm in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, which has been the site of fierce fighting which has led to a mass exodus and evacuation effort from the north-eastern African country.
Gun fire has been heard in Khartoum as fighting continues between the Rapid Support Force, a paramilitary group who follows the former warlord Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti, and the Sudanese army forces loyal to Abdulfatah al-Burhan, the current de facto leader of Sudan.
Here is a roundup of today’s news.
A British RAF plane has landed at port city in the north-east of Sudan as a British minister said that the UK is evaluating further military options for rescuing non-diplomats from the country by land, sea and air.
A C17 Globemaster is on the ground at Port Sudan with some troops who may form part of a second rescue organised by the UK following Sunday’s controversial evacuation of British diplomats from the capital, Khartoum, but not other UK nationals.
The head of the UN António Guterres has warned that the situation could engulf the whole region and that Sudan stands on the “abyss”.
He said: “Let me be clear: the United Nations is not leaving Sudan. Our commitment is to the Sudanese people, in support of their wishes for a peaceful and secure future. We stand with them at this terrible time. We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss.”
The French embassy in Khartoum will be closed until further notice. France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, according to the ministry, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports. It has also sent a warship as part of the rescue effort.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said that the country has been able to fly more than 300 people out of Sudan.
The US is pushing for a ceasefire between the two warring factions in Sudan to be broadened to help bring the conflict to an end. Secretary of state Antony Blinken told a news conference that was talking “directly” with military leaders. Israel has offered to host ceasefire talks.
The British ambassador to Sudan was on holiday when fighting broke out in the country’s capital Khartoum, according to a report in the Times of London.
That’s all from me today. I will be handing over to my colleague Gloria Oladipo.
Thousands more residents of Khartoum fled the Sudanese capital on Monday, risking long, dangerous journeys to escape continued street battles and murderous airstrikes that continue to cause significant civilian casualties.
Some headed north by road to the Egyptian border in packed buses, many with towering piles of luggage strapped to them. Others drove north-east to Port Sudan. Both journeys involved up to 24 hours of driving, with increasing reports of robbery of vehicles.
Many in Khartoum fear that rival factions fighting for control of the city will intensify their power struggle when the evacuations of foreign citizens have finished. The latest ceasefire, which brought almost no reduction in fighting, was due to run out Monday evening.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned a session of the security council in New York that the violence “risks a catastrophic conflagration … that could engulf the whole region and beyond”. He urged the 15 council members to work to end the violence.
The Guardian has assembled a gallery of satellite images related to the conflict in Sudan, which helps give an understanding of the ferocity of the fighting so far.
If you have been affected by the conflict in Sudan and would be happy to talk about your experiences, you can find out how to contact the Guardian here:
Israel has proposed hosting ceasefire talks, Reuters reports.
“Since fighting erupted in the country, Israel has been operating in various channels to reach a ceasefire, and the progress over the past few days in discussions with the sides is very promising,” foreign minister Eli Cohen said in a statement.
The statement gave no further details other than saying the official had been holding discussions with the warring generals.
Sudan and Israel announced in February they had finalised a deal normalising ties, with the signing due to follow a transfer of power from the military to a civilian government in Khartoum.
Cohen said he hoped that working to achieve calm in Sudan “would allow for the signing of a historic peace agreement”.
The British ambassador to Sudan was on holiday when fighting broke out in the country’s capital Khartoum, according to a report in the Times.
It claims that Giles Lever, who was previously deputy head of mission in Kabul in Afghanstan, took annual leave during Ramadan.
When fighting broke out in Khartoum the British embassy was under the control of the director of development, whose day-to-day role involves administering British aid.
Updated
UK minister hopes evacuation efforts not viewed as 'shambles'
Andrew Mitchell, a UK Foreign Office minister, told parliament in a statement that the Foreign Office has registered about 2,000 British nationals who are in Sudan and that the government was looking at “every single available option” for extracting them.
But he also stressed the difficulties. When the government was evacuating Britons from Kabul, it had troops on the ground, access to an airport and permission from the authorities to stage an airlift. In Sudan, none of those factors applied, he said. He told MPs:
Movement around the capital [Khartoum] remains extremely dangerous and no evacuation option comes without grave risk to life.
Khartoum airport is out of action. Energy supplies are disrupted. Food and water are becoming increasingly scarce. Internet and telephone networks are becoming difficult to access.
We continue to advise all British nationals in Sudan to stay indoors wherever possible.
We recognise circumstances will vary in different locations across Sudan, so we are now asking British nationals to exercise their own judgment about their circumstances, including whether to relocate, but they do so at their own risk.
On Monday Alicia Kearns, chair of the foreign affairs committee, said that up to 4,000 Britons could be in Sudan. (See 9.25am.) Mitchell said that figure included dual nationals, which was why it was different from the 2,000 figure he quoted.
When Labour’s Chris Bryant said the evacuation of Kabul was “a complete and utter shambles”, Mitchell said he hoped that would not be the case this time. He told MPs:
We hope that the word shambles will not be applied to the work that we are doing seamlessly across government to make sure that we achieve the aims that are common across the whole house.
Updated
The US is pushing for a ceasefire between the two warring factions in Sudan to be broadened to help bring the conflict to an end.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken told a news conference that he was in talks with military leaders.
Officials are engaging “directly” with Sudanese military leaders General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the army, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.
“We also continue to engage directly … to press them to extend and expand the ceasefire,” the secretary of state said.
Blinken said that the US was hoping to restore an embassy presence to the country as soon as possible.
He added that convoys trying to leave Khartoum have had difficulties including robbing and looting which has held up evacuations.
African countries' evacuation efforts under way
Here’s a short round up of the response by African countries.
Kenya has said it will not be withdrawing its diplomats from Sudan as it wants them to help negotiate a “peaceful solution” to the conflict.
The foreign secretary Alfred Mutua spoke at a press conference alongside US secretary of state Antony Blinken. On Twitter he went on to say some students have already been withdrawn and the country is in the process of rescuing another 300 people. He called for all Kenyans in Sudan to register with the embassy to enable their evacuation.
Meanwhile Uganda has withdrawn more than 200 of its citizens as well as six foreign nationals. They are being transported on buses through Ethiopia, according to Uganda’s ambassador to Khartoum Rashid Ssemuddu, Agence France-Presse reports.
His office said the evacuees left Sudan’s capital Khartoum on four buses on Sunday, travelling hundreds of kilometres (miles) through Ethiopia before arriving in the Ugandan city of Entebbe.
Last week Egypt evacuated 177 of its soldiers from Sudan, and another 436 citizens left by land on Sunday. More than 10,000 Egyptian nationals are thought to live in Sudan.
Chad, who have already had thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict arriving over its border, said it was sending planes to collect 438 citizens who are leaving the capital Khartoum by bus for Port Sudan, which is at the centre of rescue efforts.
Nigeria plans to get nearly 3,000 of its nationals, mostly students but also including embassy staff and their families, out of the country by convoy to neighbouring Egypt, an official told AFP. It is predicted that about 5,000 Nigerian nationals in total could be looking for evacuation.
South Africa has begun evacuating dozens of its citizens including embassy staff.
Mauritania’s top diplomat Mohamed Salem Ould Marzouk said that 101 citizens were taken by ship to the Saudi port of Jeddah on Sunday.
North African countries Algeria and Tunisia have also begun their own operations.
More details on wider evacuation efforts can be found below.
Updated
RAF plane lands in Sudan for future evacuations
A British RAF plane has landed at port city in the north-east of Sudan as a British minister said that the UK is evaluating further military options for rescuing non-diplomats from the country by land, sea and air.
A C17 Globemaster is on the ground at Port Sudan with some troops who may form part of a second rescue organised by the UK following Sunday’s controversial evacuation of British diplomats from the capital, Khartoum, but not other UK nationals.
James Heappey, the minister for the armed forces said in a briefing that the UK recognises that “the job isn’t done” when it comes to rescuing the 4,000 or more British and dual nationals trapped in Sudan.
“Work is under way in [the Ministry of Defence] and has been all weekend and the back end of last week to give the prime minister and Cobra options for what else could be done to support the wider community of British nationals in Sudan,” the defence minister said.
A storm gathered on Monday over Britain’s decision to rescue only its diplomats when other countries such as Germany had been evacuating both diplomats and nationals, prompting British ministers to say that evacuation efforts had not been abandoned.
Heappey said that discussions in government were continuing “at pace” and that Rishi Sunak would be given options to help Britons trapped in Sudan “as and when they arise”, but added that there was a concern that the military situation was highly unstable given the fighting between government and RSF rebel forces.
A frigate, HMS Lancaster, is also available nearby and could participate in any maritime rescue, if one were organised. Although the long journey from Khartoum to Port Sudan is not being recommended by British officials and is fraught with danger, convoys have been able to make it to the relatively safety of the city.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said that the country has been able to fly more than 300 people out of Sudan.
In a press conference alongside defence minister Boris Pistorius she said that the latest evacuation count was up to Monday morning, Reuters reports.
She added that this included embassy staff and that some German nationals remained in the north east African country.
Zwischenstand zur Militärischen Evakuierung im #Sudan, mit #Baerbock & #Pistorius. Inzwischen über 300 Menschen durch Bundeswehr et al. evakuiert, darunter Botschaftspersonal und Menschen aus 20 Nationen. Es sind allerdings noch deutsche Staatsbürger vor Ort. (…) pic.twitter.com/qzy4b8dFRG
— Martin Kaul (@martinkaul) April 24, 2023
Staying on France’s response, the country’s navy is sending a warship to Sudan to help pick up nationals being evacuated.
Two diplomatic sources told Reuters the French frigate Lorraine was heading for the port but had yet to reach Sudanese waters, one of the sources said.
European states, as well as China and Japan were racing to extract their citizens from Sudan on Monday as the UN chief warned of the risk of “a catastrophic conflagration” with wider repercussions.
France closing embassy in Sudan
The French embassy in Khartoum will be closed after the armed clashes between the army and paramilitary group.
The French mission in Khartoum will be shut “until further notice”, the foreign affairs ministry said, and would no longer serve as a rallying point for expatriates trying to leave the country.
France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, according to the ministry, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports.
They included two Greeks and one Belgian who had been wounded, as well as the German and Swiss ambassadors, it said.
French nationals in Djibouti today were due to land in France in coming days.
The ministry however added that it had been unable to reach the few French people living outside the capital Khartoum.
France had to coordinate with both sides of the conflict to ensure successful evacuations, the ministry said.
The Sudanese armed forces led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan control the airport, while many of those needing to be evacuated were in areas held by the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, it explained.
President Emmanuel Macron was “able to speak to Gen Burhan to obtain the necessary assurances in order to evacuate our citizens by air,” the presidency said.
“He will stay in touch with actors in the region in coming days in order to contribute to peace efforts,” it added.
US raises concerns about Russian Wagner group operating in Sudan
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has raised concerns about the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner group, operating in Sudan.
Wagner, who were founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, have been heavily engaged in the conflict in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. There is now a suggestion the group is active in Sudan.
He told a press conference: “We do have deep concern about the engagement of the Prigozhin group – the Wagner group - in Sudan.
Blinken said the Wagner group has been active in Mali and Central African Republic.
Kenya’s foreign secretary, Alfred Mutua, also pointed the finger at Middle Eastern countries. He did not name them, but Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have been widely reported to have backed warring generals, Agence France Presse reports.
“We’ve been quite concerned by some of our friends in the Middle East as well as Russia or others who for a long time have been friendly to either one or the other side,” he said.
“At this particular time, it is not a time to be able to sides in a war,” Mutua said.
He added that foreign players were “trying to use Sudan as a playing field for whatever reason.”
“We are asking external forces to leave Sudan alone.”
After reports that evacuation efforts nearly “collapsed” on Sunday, Downing Street said it “did not recognise” the claims.
It has been alleged that there was a standoff related to the evacuation of a Sudanese citizen on a British flight.
Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said: “We don’t recognise the claim that the operation was in some way compromised or impacted by this.
“The plane left quickly, it left without any major incident with the rest of the party. The Sudanese national was later evacuated on a French plane, I understand.”
The decision not to evacuate the Sudanese citizen would have been made on the ground, Downing Street suggested.
The spokesperson added that lessons had been learned from the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. “It’s been a very fast-moving and complex situation. I think, as demonstrated over the weekend, we moved very swiftly in what was very challenging circumstances to safely evacuate the diplomats from Sudan” they said.
“Part of that has been informed by lessons learned from previous situations including Afghanistan.”
The British parliament has been discussing the situation in Sudan with a Foreign Office minister telling MPs that any British nationals who try to relocate or flee “do so at their own risk”.
Andrew Mitchell said that the international airport in Khartoum was not operational and added that the safety of British nationals in the country was “the utmost priority”.
Mitchell said that the government was still pushing for another ceasefire to be agreed and followed by the warring army and RSF group.
“Ending the violence is the single most important action we can take to guarantee the safety of British nationals and everyone in Sudan,” he said.
What is the situation in Sudan?
As the UK and other countries continue to evacuate its citizens out of Sudan, here’s what has happened so far as the country has descended in to war.
Fighting began less than a fortnight ago on 15 April as 25 were killed in clashes between rival military groups in Sudan. Fighting has since continued in the capital, Khartoum. Hundreds have been killed, with the number of injured in the thousands according to reports.
The warring factions make up the two main sections of the ruling military power.
The Sudanese armed forces are loyal to Abdulfatah al-Burhan, the current de facto leader of Sudan.
Meanwhile the paramilitary group Rapid Support Force (RSF) follow the former warlord Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti.
Hemedti is deputy head of the transitional governing Sovereign Council, while al-Burhan is its head. There had been a planned shift to civilian rule which provides the backdrop to the conflict.
An internationally-backed ceasefire broke down after a matter of hours on April 19 as groups fought for control of key locations in the capital including the presidential palace, airport and general command of the Sudanese armed forces. Another truce around the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Ramadan fast, also failed.
In the days since thousands of people have fled the violence to neighbouring countries including Chad. British diplomats were evacuated on Sunday, although there were reports that the efforts nearly collapsed – in scenes reminiscent of the British withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Meanwhile the US removed some of its citizens in Chinook helicopters on Sunday, and nearly 500 French nationals have been evacuated by its government.
Updated
UN warns conflict could engulf entire region
Welcome to our coverage of the ongoing situation in Sudan as thousands of Britons remain trapped as they try to flee the north-east African country.
On Monday afternoon the secretary general of the UN, António Guterres warned that the situation could engulf the whole region. Guterres called for a ceasefire and said that humanitarian aid workers should be allowed in by both sides.
He said:
“Let me be clear: the United Nations is not leaving Sudan. Our commitment is to the Sudanese people, in support of their wishes for a peaceful and secure future. We stand with them at this terrible time.
“We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss.”
Updated
