How will the Irish evacuation effort in Sudan work?

The Government announced an emergency team of diplomats and up to 12 troops from the Irish Army Ranger Wing are to travel to Africa to assist the evacuation of Irish citizens in Sudan, following the outbreak of a major conflict in recent weeks. So, what is happening and what is the plan to get Irish citizens out of the country?

What is happening in Sudan?

More than a week ago, fighting broke out in the north-east African country between Sudan’s army and a rival paramilitary group, following months of growing tensions.

On one side of the conflict is Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, president of Sudan’s military government and head of the army. On the other is Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Sudan’s vice-president, who oversees one the region’s biggest militia groups, Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Violent clashes between the two groups for control of the country, in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere, have, so far, seen more than 400 people killed, including at least 264 civilians.

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How many Irish citizens are in Sudan?

The nearest Irish embassy is in Nairobi, Kenya, where more than 150 Irish citizens are recorded as having registered as living in Sudan, in case of an emergency such as this. There may be more than that, however, who have not registered with the local embassy.

Are Irish citizens being evacuated?

As the violence in the country continued to escalate, many countries, including Ireland, ramped up efforts to evacuate diplomats and other citizens from Sudan over the weekend.

[ Sudan: About 50 Irish citizens evacuated so far, Micheál Martin says ]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, announced on Sunday an emergency consular assistance team would travel to the region to assist Irish citizens getting out of the country. The team will include up to 12 members of the Defence Forces’ specialist Army Ranger Wing and Department of Foreign Affairs officials.

A consular base has been set up on the ground in nearby Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa. From there, the team will move onward into Sudan on military aircraft of another European country carrying out similar evacuation efforts.

What will the plan be on the ground?

The Ranger Wing troops will likely set up a security cordon and assist Irish citizens getting to an evacuation area.

The plan will be to get Irish citizens and their family out of the country and to Djibouti on the military aircraft of a friendly country, such as other partners in Europe.

So far, around 50 Irish citizens, including dependents, have been evacuated from Sudan in airlift operations run by France and Spain.

Emails from the department to Irish citizens in Sudan on Sunday had advised that airlifts organised by other European countries were taking place, if people could get to “muster points”, such as their embassies or ambassadors’ residences.

For example, two Spanish military planes evacuated around 30 of its citizens yesterday, as well as 70 people from other countries, including Ireland, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Portugal.

Has this worked before?

The evacuation effort in Sudan is very similar to an operation to get Irish citizens out of Afghanistan, as the Taliban took over the country in August 2021.

A team of Army Ranger Wing troops and diplomats flew into the capital for 48 hours, to co-ordinate the extraction of Irish citizens from Kabul, amid the chaotic withdrawal of the United States from the Middle Eastern country.

[ Sudan evacuation: ‘It was a nightmare. These are Irish citizens’ ]

The team during that mission similarly facilitated the evacuation of Irish citizens on the aircraft of other countries, as they were in the process of evacuating their own citizens.

Why are we reliant on other countries?

Ireland is one of only two countries in the European Union, alongside Malta, that does not have long range “airlift capability”, which is the military’s ability to fly into a country to deploy or evacuate people.

The current Air Corps fleet includes a number of helicopters, two Casa maritime patrol aircraft, as well as several single-engine Pilatus PC planes used for training, cargo and medical transport or surveillance operations.

There is also the Learjet, which had been used to fly Government officials or the President abroad, but in recent years has been beset with chronic maintenance problems and frequently unavailable.

The Government placed an order for a medium range transport aircraft at the end of last year, which would be suited to evacuating citizens in a situation like Sudan. The cargo aircraft, however, is not expected to be delivered before 2025.