The Sudanese Army announced Wednesday the evacuation from the country of 177 Egyptian Air Force servicemen, who were being held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Army spokesman Banil Abdullah said the soldiers, who had been held in the Sudanese town of Merowe in the northern state of the country, were evacuated to Cairo by four military aircraft, according to the Sudan Ajbar portal.
According to Sudanese authorities, the presence of Egyptian soldiers is explained by a joint training agreement signed between the two countries in 2018. »A new round of the exercise — under the name ‘Protectors of the Nile’ — was scheduled for the month of May,» they have explained.
Prior to this announcement, the RSF had announced that the arrested soldiers were to be »released as soon as possible», but at the »appropriate time according to the prevailing conditions in the country», while specifying that all Egyptian military personnel present at the Merowe base were safe, reports ‘Sudan Tribune’.
For his part, the spokesman of the Egyptian Army, Gharib Abdel Hafez, who promised more details, explained in a statement that he is in coordination with the various parties to »ensure the return of all the elements of the forces».
Hostilities in Sudan erupted on Saturday amid tensions over security reforms and the integration of the RSF — led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’, also vice-president of the Sovereign Transitional Council — into the Sudanese armed forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and revive the transition.
The talks process kicked off with international mediation after the army chief and president of the Sovereign Transitional Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that ousted the then unity prime minister, Abdalá Hamdok, appointed to the post following civil-military contacts after the April 2019 uprising that ended 30 years of Omar Hasán al Bashir’s regime.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
