The Pentagon is sending extra personnel and supplies to a naval base in the tiny nation of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden in preparation for a potential evacuation of US Embassy personnel from Sudan.
The deployments to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, according to two members of the Biden administration, are required given the unstable conditions in Sudan, where fighting is raging between two rival factions.
US Officials And Their Preparations
Under the condition of anonymity, the officials spoke about the administration’s planning for a potential evacuation.
The planning got underway seriously on Monday following an attack on a convoy carrying the US Embassy in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
In a statement on Thursday, the Pentagon said that it will send extra resources to the region to aid in, if required, facilitating the evacuation of embassy personnel from Sudan.
But, it would not provide any other details or identify the location.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that President Joe Biden just made the decision to begin planning for a potential evacuation.
He noted that all embassy workers are safe and that those who have not been moved to a secure central location have been told to stay at home.
The conditions weren’t yet secure enough to mount any evacuation, according to Vedant Patel, a deputy spokesperson for the State Department.
US authorities have reportedly told senators concerned about the situation that there are roughly 70 American workers at the Khartoum embassy.
The State Department has cautioned that this number is likely incorrect because Americans are not compelled to register or notify the embassy when they depart.
According to the embassy’s statistics, 16,000 unauthorized Americans are reportedly estimated to be in Sudan.
Since last weekend’s start of hostilities, the US has been preparing to evacuate government personnel from their homes to a secure, central location.
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The Evacuation Plans
Any evacuation operation will be staged in the tiny republic of Djibouti, which is wedged between Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea on the Gulf of Aden.
Every evacuation is challenging and risky in the current security environment.
Evacuees may be taken to Port Sudan on the Red Sea if Khartoum has no secure landing spots. The 841-kilometer (523-mile) trek takes 12 hours on dangerous routes.
Another option is to drive to Eritrea, but President Isaias Afwerki is anti-West and anti-US.
More recent evacuations have taken place, most notably in Yemen and Afghanistan, but they were mostly accomplished by air.
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