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72 Irish citizens and their families evacuated from Sudan

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that 72 Irish citizens and their families have been evacuated from Sudan.

They have been taken to Djibouti and Jordan.

On Twitter, Mr Martin said that work is ongoing to "secure further evacuations".

It is understood that a total of around 100 Irish citizens and their families are involved in the evacuation effort.

The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that a total of 50 people - Irish citizens and their family members - were evacuated from Khartoum to Djibouti since Sunday, with the support of France and Spain.

The Government has also approved the deployment of an Emergency Civil Assistance Team (ECAT) to help with the evacuation of Irish citizens from Sudan.

The ECAT will be based in Djibouti, where the evacuation of EU citizens is being co-ordinated.

Ireland has also purchased two aircraft that the Government says will be able to be used in future extraction missions like the one in Sudan.

Fighting broke out in the country more than a week ago in a power struggle between military factions. A 72-hour ceasefire began at midnight following two days of negotiations.


At a glance: What is happening in Sudan?


Global evacuations continue

A member of the Saudi armed forces carries a girl who arrived at King Faisal navy base in Jeddah

Tens of thousands of people have fled in the past few days, to Egypt, Chad and South Sudan, despite instability and difficult living conditions there.

One 65-vehicle convoy took dozens of children, along with hundreds of diplomats and aid workers, on an 800km, 35-hour journey in searing heat from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

Several nations, including Canada, France, Poland, Switzerland and the United States, have halted embassy operations until further notice.

Fighting calmed enough over the weekend for the United States and Britain to get embassy staff out, triggering a rush of evacuations of hundreds of foreign nationals by countries ranging from Gulf Arab states to Russia, Japan and South Korea.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 1,000 EU citizens had been taken out during a "long and intense weekend" involving airlift missions by France, Germany and others.

Britain has said it had launched evacuation flights for citizens trapped in Sudan.

"UK military flights are due to depart from an airfield outside Khartoum," a Foreign Office statement said.

"Flights will be open to those with British passports and priority will be given to family groups with children and/or the elderly or individuals with medical conditions."

It said UK citizens should "not make their way to the airfield unless they are called" adding: "The situation remains volatile and our ability to conduct evacuations could change at short notice."

China said it had "safely evacuated" a first group of citizens and would "try every means to protect the lives, properties and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan".

Japan said all its citizens who wished to leave Sudan had been evacuated. Paris said it had arranged evacuations of 491 people, including 196 French citizens and others from 36 other nationalities. A French warship is headed for Port Sudan to pick up more evacuees.

Four German air force planes evacuated more than 400 people of various nationalities from Sudan as of yesterday, while the Saudi foreign ministry said yesterday it evacuated 356 people, including 101 Saudis and people of 26 other nationalities.

Several countries sent military planes from Djibouti. Families with children crowded into Spanish and French military transport aircraft, while a group of nuns were among the evacuees on an Italian plane, photographs showed.

Additional reporting: Reuters and AFP