Madrid/Zaragoza (EFE).- An A400M military transport plane from the Air Force arrived in Djibouti this Friday as part of the operation that Spain is preparing to evacuate some 80 people, including Spaniards, Europeans and South Americans, who are trapped in Sudan .
Military sources have confirmed that the Airbus left Zaragoza at noon for Djibouti to join other military planes with which Spain plans to evacuate some 60 Spaniards, residents and tourists, and another 20 people of European or South American nationality.
According to the Flightradar24 website, the Spanish A400M has landed at the Djibouti airport at 7:00 p.m.
Evacuation of 60 Spaniards
The Minister of Foreign Affairs himself, José Manuel Albares, explained this Friday from Berlin that “everything was ready” for the evacuation of some 60 Spaniards and 20 people of other nationalities who are trapped in Khartoum due to the war between two military chiefs of that country.
Albares has not been able to specify when the evacuation will take place given that the conditions in the country “are very difficult, with intense combat,” he said.
“We are waiting for an effective truce to take place, even for a few hours” to proceed with the evacuation operation, he stressed.
As detailed by Albares, “we have everything ready, there are military planes of the Spanish Army pre-positioned for the moment when the conditions are met, but now unfortunately they are not given so that they can land” in the Sudanese capital.
Appeal to the Spanish in the country
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contacted all the Spaniards who are in the country and has begun the regrouping of the colony despite the fact that the displacements “are extremely dangerous”, the minister specified.
Albares has also made an appeal so that if there are any Spaniards in the country who have not been contacted by Foreign Affairs, they immediately contact the consular emergency telephone number of the Ministry, which is coordinating the operation.
The clashes in Sudan broke out on Saturday amid talks on a reform of the Army and the integration of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitary group into it, within a political process to return Sudan to the democratic path after the coup in State of 2021 perpetrated by the head of the Army, Abdelfatah al Burhan, and the paramilitary commander and leader of the FAR, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti”.
At least 413 people have been killed and 3,551 injured in Sudan since the outbreak of conflict between the country’s army and the FAR, according to the latest WHO count.