Joly tells Canadians in Sudan to shelter in place as ‘dire’ clashes close airport

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada has no means of evacuating citizens from Sudan, where violence has drastically escalated between the country’s army and its rival paramilitary force.

“The airport right now is inaccessible; the streets are unsafe. So the situation is extremely dire,” Joly said in an interview Thursday.

“It is not possible for the moment to do any evacuation. So what we’re saying to Canadians is please shelter in place.”

The streets of the capital of Khartoum were generally calm a week ago, but a skirmish over a planned transition to democratic rule deteriorated last Saturday into raging battles between the two groups.

The Global Affairs Department knows of roughly 1,500 Canadians registered as being in Sudan, and Joly is urging anyone in that country who hasn’t submitted their details to the government to do so.

“It is important that we can have access to whom is present in the country,” Joly said.

Joly saidall of Canada’s diplomats and hired local staff have been accounted for, and are trying to offer services while working remotely.

“It is a difficult situation in which we are operating, but we are there,” she said, adding that Canada’s embassy sits in an area that is currently under active combat.

Sudan’s military ruled out negotiations with Sudan’s paramilitary force on Thursday, raising the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudan’s population to the breaking point.

Many attempted to flee Khartoum during a brief ceasefire, the second this week that gave way to more fighting.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began Saturday, the UN’s World Health Organization said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

The U.S. and other countries anticipate the violence to escalate, and are preparing to evacuate their citizens in Sudan. That’s despite warring groups preventing the flow of people out of Khartoum, and fighting at numerous airports.

The American military is moving assets to a base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti for a possible evacuation of diplomats, Biden administration officials said. Japan plans to send military planes to Djibouti, and the Netherlands has dispatched its own to Jordan.

Joly would not say what contingencies Canada is considering.

“We’re assessing the situation constantly (and) working with countries, partners and allies, as we’re all in the same situation,” she said.

Joly said she discussed the situation Tuesday with other G7 foreign ministers in Japan. She plans to soon speak with her counterparts in the African Union as well as nearby countries such as Egypt and Djibouti about both protecting citizens and de-escalation.

Khartoum residents are running out of food and water. Alarm has grown that the country’s medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies.

Canada’s travel advisory warns that Sudan’s telecommunication networks could break down without notice.

“The security situation is highly volatile. There are reports of looting of private homes. There are also reports of attacks and sexual assaults, including rape. Foreigners and staff of international organizations have been targeted,” reads a Thursday update.

Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the sudden deterioration in Sudan is “an object lesson for all of us” about the issues that produce insecurity and conflict.

“No one should be either shocked or indifferent. And it means countries such as Canada have to be more prepared,” Rae wrote on Twitter.

Joly said a rise in global conflicts means Ottawa needs to beef up its foreign service, to provide Canadians with consular assistance and try finding peace.

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program logged 54 state-based conflicts in 2021, the most since 1946 and slightly more than those recorded in the early 1990s.

“There’s a rise of instability, and that’s why we need to continue to invest in our diplomacy to be there across the world,” Joly said.

“We need to make sure that were there in order to prevent conflict. And also when conflict happens, to de-escalate.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

— With files from The Associated Press

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press