Sixty Dutch people have safely left Sudan, reports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ). There were 32 evacuees on the first Dutch evacuation flight from Sudan to Jordan, including 15 Dutch nationals. The evacuation was carried out by the Marine Corps.
When the C-130 Hercules transport plane took off, there were no more people to take. A few dozen Dutch people also left Sudan for Jordan on German evacuation flights.
“We will continue to do everything we can to evacuate other Dutch people who want to,” tweets Minister Hoekstra. He says he is happy that the sixty Dutch people are now safe.
Last night, “a handful” of Dutchmen arrived in Djibouti with the French air force. A group of Dutch people also flew to Jordan on a French flight yesterday, Minister Hoekstra reported.
The Dutch government will later bring the people who have now arrived in Jordan from Sudan to the Netherlands.
Some Dutch people stay
The ministry previously reported that more than 150 Dutch citizens and embassy employees want to be evacuated. The Dutch embassy in the capital Khartoum is closed, the work will be continued from another location.
Some Dutch people in Sudan do not want to leave now, for example because they do not want to leave family behind. Others cannot get to the airport. Another factor is that the evacuation is not without risks. The army and RSF paramilitary units have been fighting each other in Sudan for over a week now. At least 400 civilians have been killed so far.
Yesterday it became clear that the Netherlands is working with France and Germany in the rescue operation of Dutch people from Sudan. Minister Hoekstra then said that the intention is to land as many aircraft as possible.
A German plane with 101 people on board arrived in Berlin this morning from Jordan, Reuters news agency reports. In total, the German army is said to have flown 313 people out of Sudan.
Other EU citizens can also count on Germany’s help, says the German army. Greece, Spain and Italy, among others, are also evacuating their citizens from Sudan.
‘Cooperating foreman’
Daan Brink has evacuated a number of people from the port city of Port Sudan, he tells NOS Radio 1 Journaal. These were acquaintances of Brink’s company, a former officer of the Commando Corps.
The operation went relatively easily, because the people knew each other and were in the same place. “We didn’t have to pick them up at different points. And there was a kind of hierarchical structure with a cooperating foreman. That is of course always easier to manage, because you can work in a hierarchical line.”
The biggest risks were that the column would end up in a firefight, or that the airport or the aircraft would be fired upon, says Brink. “That risk is always there.”
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