Egypt relocates diplomatic mission outside Sudan capital amid clashes

Egypt said, Wednesday, members of its diplomatic mission in Khartoum had been relocated to a safer place outside the Sudanese capital, Anadolu News Agency reports.

A Foreign Ministry statement cited “increasing threats and security risks” for the move, which came two days after an embassy staff member was killed in Khartoum.

The statement said the relocation would allow members of the embassy, ​​consulate and technical bureaus to carry on the tasks pertinent to the evacuation of Egyptian nationals from Sudan.

Egypt has, so far, evacuated 1,539 Egyptian nationals from Sudan amid clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At least 512 people have been killed and over 4,100 others injured since the outbreak of violence on April 15, according to the Health Ministry.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the Army and the paramilitaries over military and security reform. The reform envisages full RSF participation in the military, one of the main issues in negotiations by international and regional parties for a transition to civilian, democratic rule in Sudan.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup”.

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

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