Nearly 70 Australians have safely left Sudan

Dominic Giannini and Andrew Brown | April 27, 2023

Nearly 70 Australians have safely left Sudan as a bloody conflict continues between the army and a paramilitary group.

Just under 160 Australians were known to be in Sudan at the start of the week.

On Thursday, the prime minister said officials were working to provide assistance to more than 100 Australians still in Sudan.

Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Tim Watts met with representatives from Australia’s Sudanese community to discuss efforts to facilitate the evacuation of Australian citizens and their families. 

Australia does not have an embassy in Sudan, with the closest one being in Egypt.

Additional consular officers have been deployed to to Djibouti, Jeddah, Cyprus and Cairo to support Australians.

Flights from partner countries are leaving from the Wadi Sayyidna airfield and boats are departing from Port Sudan to Jeddah.

“Australians in Sudan wishing to depart should strongly consider leaving as soon as possible,” Mr Watts said, acknowledging the 72-hour ceasefire ends on Thursday night and further departure cannot be guaranteed.

Sudanese people in Australia can apply for visa extensions and those who have a “no further stay” condition can apply to have it waived.

“I know many in the Sudanese community are deeply concerned at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan,” Mr Watts said.

“The Australian government condemns the violence across Sudan that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.”

Fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces has led to widespread unrest in the African nation.

The fighting has triggered a rush to safely evacuate foreign diplomats and citizens from Sudan, with a 72-hour ceasefire being called.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was continuing to provide support to citizens who were in Sudan and urged for the conflict to stop.

Mr Albanese said the situation in Sudan was a “dangerous circumstance”.

“We would call upon all sides of the conflict in Sudan to refrain from the violence that is occurring,” he told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.

“We’re also working with our allies, including the United Kingdom, to make sure that our people in Sudan are looked, we’ll continue to do that.”

Despite a ceasefire being ordered, battles have been reported on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Several countries have evacuated officials and citizens by air while others have used ports on the Red Sea.

More than 500 people have died in the conflict since fighting broke out earlier in April, while thousands have been wounded.