A US-organised convoy carrying American citizens, local staff, and nationals from allied countries arrived yesterday in Port Sudan, the State Department said, as an exodus from war-torn Sudan continued.
From that Red Sea port, the statement added, “we are assisting US citizens and others who are eligible with onward travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where additional US personnel are positioned to assist with consular and emergency services.”
The statement, from State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, did not specify how many people were in the convoy but said that hundreds of Americans have left Sudan in addition to the diplomats pulled out in a military-led airlift a week ago.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Friday that fewer than 5,000 people have been in touch with the State Department about efforts to leave Sudan, although it was impossible to verify how many were in the country and wanted to go. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that “dozens” of US citizens hoped to leave and that most who remained in Sudan were dual nationals.
“We messaged every US citizen in Sudan who communicated with us during the crisis and provided specific instructions about joining this convoy to those who were interested in departing via the land route,” the State Department said.
The statement encouraged any US citizens who still want to leave to contact the State Department.
“Intensive negotiations by the United States with the support of our regional and international partners enabled the security conditions that have allowed the departure of thousands of foreign and US citizens,” the statement said.
The Pentagon meantime said it had “deployed US intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to support air and land evacuation routes, which Americans are using.”