Iran dispatched a plane to Saudi Arabia on Saturday to transport nationals evacuated from Sudan amid continued confrontations between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya television network, Iran despatched the jet to pick up the citizens who were carried to Jeddah from Sudan by a Saudi Arabian ship.
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, had stated that 65 Iranian people were carried from Khartoum to Port Sudan and then moved to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Port.
Kanaani praised Saudi Arabia for its assistance.
According to Sudan’s Health Ministry, at least 528 people have been killed and over 4,500 have been injured in combat between two competing generals, Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the RSF, since April 15.
In recent months, a schism had developed between the army and the paramilitary force over the latter’s absorption into the armed forces, which was a crucial requirement of Sudan’s transition deal with political groups.
Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 20, 2021, when the military deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and established a state of emergency, a move that political forces condemned as a “coup.”
Sudan’s transitional period, which began in August 2019 following President Omar al-Bashir’s removal, was set to culminate with elections in early 2024.