China has evacuated the first group of its citizens from conflict-hit Sudan, Beijing‘s foreign ministry said Monday.
It joins countries across the world, including in Asia, in racing to move foreign nationals to safety after army and paramilitary forces began clashing across Sudan, killing hundreds and causing acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel.
China says it is Sudan’s largest trading partner, with over 130 companies investing there as of mid-2022.
Beijing’s foreign ministry estimates more than 1,500 Chinese nationals are currently in Sudan.
The first group of Chinese citizens has been “safely evacuated”, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday, without giving a specific number.
Beijing will “try every means to protect the lives, properties and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan,” senior foreign ministry official Wu Xi told state media on Sunday.
In Indonesia, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Jakarta had successfully relocated more than 500 nationals from capital Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea on Monday.
She said preparations were being made for the group of 538 to be transported by sea to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, without providing further details.
“Most of the Indonesian citizens who were evacuated were Indonesian students, Indonesian migrant workers, Indofood company employees and Indonesian embassy staff and their families,” Marsudi told a press briefing.
Preparations for their return home were ongoing and a further 289 Indonesians would be “evacuated in the second phase at the first opportunity”, she said.
Around 1,200 Indonesians are registered at the embassy in Khartoum, according to the Indonesian foreign ministry.
At least 427 people have been killed in Sudan’s ongoing conflict and more than 3,700 wounded, according to United Nations agencies, which also reported Sudanese civilians “fleeing areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan”.
With Khartoum international airport disabled after battles that left charred aeroplanes on the runways, many foreigners were airlifted out from smaller airstrips and other evacuations were taking place from Port Sudan, an 850-kilometre (530-mile) drive from Khartoum.
