Amid the bloody conflict, Japan is preparing to dispatch a military aircraft to rescue its citizens from Sudan.
According to Hirokazu Matsuno, a spokesman for the Japanese government, there were 60 Japanese nationals trapped in Sudan as of Wednesday.
He said the government would do “its utmost to ensure the safety of Japanese residents in Sudan, including the safety and evacuation of Japanese nationals, in close cooperation with the G7 and other major countries”.
The ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has claimed almost 200 lives.
On April 15, 2023, clashes broke out across Sudan, mainly in the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region, between rival factions of the country’s military government. As of April 18, at least 188 people have been killed.
The fighting began with attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on key government sites. Airstrikes, artillery and heavy gunfire were reported across Sudan including in the capital Khartoum. As of April 15, 2023, both RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan claimed to control key government sites, including the general military headquarters, the Presidential Palace, Khartoum International Airport, the Army chief’s official residence and Sudan TV headquarters.
The history of conflicts in Sudan has consisted of ethnic tensions, religious disputes, and competition over resources. In its modern history, two civil wars between the central government and the southern regions killed 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has displaced two million people and killed more than 200,000 people.
Since independence in 1956, Sudan has had more than fifteen military coups and has been ruled by the military for the majority of the republic’s existence with only brief periods of democratic civilian parliamentary rule
