A German plane flew dozens of Canadians out of Sudan on Monday, and a Canadian C-17 transport plane based in the region stands by to help more nationals flee the east African country as the conflict escalates.

Global Affairs Canada has provided very little information on efforts to date to extract Canadian citizens, or even its own personnel, from Sudan. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a small update on Monday afternoon in Ottawa at a photo op with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“I learned this morning that a German plane took off from Khartoum with a German citizen and 58 Canadian citizens on board,” he said. We have one too [avion] C-17 in the region, and we will also provide air transport. »

Mr. Trudeau added that this recent airlift is an example of great cooperation between Canada and Germany.

Heavy gunfire and deafening explosions rocked Khartoum Monday as fighting continued between the national army and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.

More than 420 people, including at least 273 civilians, have been killed and more than 3,700 injured since fighting began on April 15 after power-sharing negotiations between the two sides deteriorated rapidly.

Canadians must register

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said earlier Monday that Canada was working “with allied countries” to help citizens remaining in Sudan flee the country.

Minister Joly tweeted that Global Affairs Canada is trying to contact all Canadians in Sudan who have registered with the government. She recalls that Canadians in Sudan must register or update their personal information with the Registration Service for Canadians Abroad.

A Canadian in Khartoum, Waddaha Medani, said she received an email from the Canadian government at 2:45 a.m. local time Monday evening, asking her to “book a seat on an evacuation flight” there that is scheduled for noon is scheduled for that day.

But with the country’s internet and phone services largely down over the weekend, she didn’t receive the email until later in the afternoon and said she didn’t receive a direct response from Ottawa’s Emergency Watch and Response Center Monday night.

“We’re already frustrated, we already don’t know what’s going on and what’s going to happen. And the communication is fundamentally bad,” she said in an interview.

The 29-year-old said she was considering making a dangerous trip to an air force base on the outskirts of town on Tuesday morning, where her sister in Ottawa heard about a suspected evacuation flight. “They keep saying there’s a truce right now, but they don’t really respect it. We still hear gunshots. »

Nearly 1,600 Canadians were officially registered in Sudan on Saturday, but experts say the number of Canadians there is likely much higher.

Port Sudan and the Red Sea

Sudanese are trying to escape amid explosions, gunfire and gunmen looting shops and homes. Grocery and fuel prices are rising and these items are harder to find; Hospitals are on the verge of collapse.

Amid this chaos, a ballet of military planes from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia flew over Khartoum all Sunday and Monday to take out foreign nationals who walked in great tension by armed militants stationed on the city’s front lines.

France was given the use of a military base on the outskirts of Khartoum, which served as an extraction point for nearly 500 people of various nationalities who traveled there in their own vehicles or with private security personnel.

Others have traveled hundreds of miles to Port Sudan in the east, where boats can depart across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia — and its airports.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington has placed intelligence and reconnaissance facilities along the land evacuation route from the capital to the port to help protect convoys carrying evacuees. He said the United States has no military on the ground.

Still, US special forces conducted a precarious evacuation of the US embassy in Khartoum on Sunday, ground-sweeping the capital with helicopters for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.

Canadian Embassy closed

Canada on Sunday suspended consular services in the east African country, saying Canadian diplomats would “temporarily work from a safe location outside the country” while trying to assist Sudanese citizens.

Ottawa has not explained how its diplomats left Sudan New York Times wrote on Sunday that US special forces had evacuated six Canadian diplomats, as well as 70 US diplomats and some from other countries.

The BBC, meanwhile, reported that Canadians were part of a group evacuated by sea to Saudi Arabia.

As of August 2022, the embassy in Khartoum had six Canadian-based staff and 12 local staff, according to data filed by the department with a Senate committee.

However, Ottawa is not evacuating its locally employed Sudanese staff, but is ensuring that all possible options to assist them are explored.

To see in the video