Plans in place to evacuate Irish citizens from Sudan

Michael Bolton

The Department of Foreign Affairs is putting plans in place to evacuate Irish citizens from Sudan.

The Defence Forces are being deployed to Sudan to evacuate Irish citizens with the Government approving the decision to send up to 12 Defence Forces personnel, initially to Djibouti, as part of an Emergency Civil Assistance Team.

Over 400 people have died as fighting between the Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary group enters a second week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says it's in contact with over 150 Irish citizens in the country.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin says he's "deeply concerned", and is seeking assistance from international partners to evacuate Irish citizens.

This comes days after Irish diplomat for Sudan Aidan O'Hara, who is the current EU ambassador, was attacked in his home in Sudan.

Senior EU diplomat Josep Borrell tweeted on Monday evening that the EU Ambassador had been assaulted in his own residency, adding the incident  “constitutes a gross violation of the Vienna Convention”.

Independent TD and former Army Ranger, Cathal Berry says decades of under-resourcing have left us dependant on the kindness of strangers.

"We've got great people in the Air Corps, but unfortunately due to decades of under resourcing, we've got a very small aircraft. We need to move down towards Africa in a larger aircraft.

"For the likes of Germany, France and UK, it would be a necessity as well. That's the state of play, we are very much dependent of the kindness of strangers."