The United States military is making preparations to deploy additional troops to Djibouti, the White House confirmed on Thursday.
The move is in anticipation of a possible mission to rescue US embassy personnel in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. The embassy staff has been under lockdown since the weekend when the city was hit by gunfire and explosions during a conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, and Sudan’s army.
Both sides are vying for control of the country, and the ongoing violence has put the lives of the city’s five million residents and US personnel at risk.
NSC spokesman John Kirby on Khartoum: "The Pentagon did announce that they are moving forward to preposition some military forces and capabilities nearby just for contingency purposes in case they would be needed for any kind of evacuation." https://t.co/vzUj1j1nUf pic.twitter.com/2hwDaplh1T
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 20, 2023
Politico initially broke the news of plans to evacuate the embassy staff, who are currently only eight miles away from Khartoum’s international airport.
However, due to the heavy fighting, the airport is currently inoperable, making military evacuation the only viable option for the 70 embassy workers to escape the country without jeopardizing their safety.
