The US military airlifted embassy officials out of Sudan on Sunday as rival generals battled for control of Africa’s third-largest country for a ninth straight day, per the AP. The violence came despite a declared truce that was to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. After a week of bloody battles hindered rescue efforts, US special forces swiftly evacuated some 70 US embassy staffers from Khartoum to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia early Sunday. Although American officials said it was still too dangerous to carry out a government-coordinated mass evacuation of private citizens, other countries scrambled to evacuate their citizens and diplomats.
France and the Netherlands, for example, said Sunday they were organizing evacuations for embassy employees and nationals, along with some citizens of allied countries. The fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces has targeted and paralyzed the country's main international airport, reducing a number of civilian aircraft to ruins and gutting at least one runway. Other airports across the country have also been knocked out of operation.
The power struggle between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has dealt a harsh blow to Sudan's heady hopes for a democratic transition. More than 400 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and more than 3,500 have been wounded in the fighting. The fighting has left millions of Sudanese stranded at home—hiding from explosions, gunfire, and looting—without adequate electricity, food, or water. On Sunday, the country experienced a “near-total collapse” of internet connection, according to NetBlocks.org, an internet monitoring service.
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