ROME (ITALPRESS/MNA) – All the Italians who have asked to leave Sudan have been evacuated. This was announced by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni late on Sunday evening.
“After a day of anxious waiting, all our compatriots in Sudan who have asked to leave have been evacuated. There are also foreign nationals with them. “Italy leaves no one behind,” said the Prime Minister, adding “I want to thank all those who participated in this very difficult operation, in the middle of a combat zone, my applause goes to Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and to the Farnesina Crisis Unit, to Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, the Chief of Staff at the Defense Ministry, Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the COVI commander, General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, to our ambassador in Sudan, Michele Tommasi, and to the Security Services. Also on this occasion I want to renew my appeal for an end to the war, for the opening of negotiations that lead to a civilian government. Sudan needs peace”.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto thanked the effort and professionalism of the Italian Armed Forces. The first 107 Italians aboard one of the C130s landed in Djibouti at 10 pm Italian time, 7 had already arrived a few hours earlier and another 40 returned on an aircraft in collaboration with the Spanish armed forces. “All Italian civilians have been evacuated to Djibouti where a refreshment area has been set up awaiting the subsequent return to Italy”, explained Crosetto.
On Monday, a C130 will take the Italian ambassador to Sudan and the commander of the Extraction Force who implemented the operation back to Djibouti.
“Thanks to the commitment of our air force and our special forces of the army, navy and carabinieri,” the minister reiterated, “the operations will continue until the complete safety of all the Italians. Everything takes place in the closest cooperation with our European partners. To the Operational Command of the Joint Forces Summit and to the soldiers who are carrying out this delicate and risky mission, I want to express the gratitude of the government and of the whole nation”.
“All the Italians who wanted to leave the country are now in Djibouti and will return to Rome with an Air Force flight at around 6 or 7 pm at Ciampino airport. They are all fine. There are some Emergency volunteers left and I think some missionary who did not want to leave the country, it is their free choice”, said the foreign minister Antonio Tajani, upon his arrival at the European Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
“I want to thank the Farnesina Crisis Unit and all the soldiers who participated in the evacuation operation. It was a difficult, risky and complicated operation, but everything went the right way. I have remained in contact with the leaders of the two factions that are fighting each other, they have respected their commitment to guarantee the safety of our convoys, I thanked them for this”, explained Tajani.

– foto ufficio stampa Ministero della Difesa –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews