clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Turkiye issues travel advisory for Sudan amid escalating violence

December 27, 2023 at 8:30 pm

Displaced people fleeing from al-Jazirah state arrive in Gedaref in the east of war-torn Sudan on December 22, 2023 [-/AFP via Getty Images]

Turkiye on Wednesday advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Sudan as fighting escalated between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Anadolu Agency reports.

“It is regrettable that the security situation in Sudan has deteriorated. We recommend that our citizens avoid travelling to Sudan except for absolutely essential situations,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said on X.

“It is important for our citizens who are currently in Sudan to continue to follow additional warnings and announcements that may be made by our Ministry and our Khartoum Embassy and to take the necessary precautions for their personal security,” Keceli added.

Sudan has been mired by fighting between the army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

OPINION: “Nobody wants to be living in camps, it’s a place you are forced to settle in when you have no options but to do so,” says One Young World Ambassador

More than 12,000 people have been killed and over 33,000 injured as a result of the conflict, according to the UN.

About 7 million people in Sudan have been displaced within the country or fled in search of security in neighbouring countries.

In Sudan, following the strengthening of the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) influence in western cities, the civil war between the military and RSF began spreading to the eastern and southern provinces around the capital Khartoum [Yasin DemirciAnadolu Agency]