As of: 04/28/2023 5:48 a.m
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) receives Sudan returnees from the Bundeswehr today at the air base in Wunstorf near Hanover. Foreign Minister Baerbock is expected as a guest.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will receive the emergency services.
“The return of the main forces of the evacuation association is planned around 5 p.m. in Wunstorf,” said the Bundeswehr. The five transport aircraft and their crews are to land at the air base in quick succession. The so-called returnee appeal is intended to honor the servicewomen and men’s performance. In addition to Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), the General Inspector of the Bundeswehr, General Carsten Breuer, and the head of the evacuation association, Major General Dirk Faust, will officially welcome the soldiers. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is expected as a guest, as are members of the Bundestag from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees. > broadcasts the arrival in the live stream.
Bundeswehr rescues 700 people from Sudan
The emergency services have brought more than 700 people from Sudan to safety in the past few days. Heavy fighting is raging between rival military figures in the desperately poor country. Hundreds of people have already died, including many civilians.
Tanks, hospitals and heavy weapons: the Bundeswehr came prepared
People climb out of a transport plane during a Bundeswehr evacuation mission in Jordan.
Meanwhile, it became known that the deployment for the Bundeswehr was apparently more dangerous than initially assumed. The material list shows that the soldiers in Sudan have prepared for violent clashes. How specialist media reports and members of the NDR air base in Lower Saxony confirmed on Thursday that the Bundeswehr was deployed with around 1,000 soldiers and heavy equipment. Among them were tanks of the “Wiesel” type and armored troop carriers. Apparently the ministry learned from the chaotic conditions at Kabul Airport at the end of the Afghanistan mission almost two years ago and prepared for what the military say is a robust mission.
From Sudan to Jordan and then to Berlin
The Air Force Airbus A400M, which is otherwise stationed in Wunstorf, Lower Saxony, began flying people from Sudan to Jordan on Sunday. The Bundeswehr aircraft took off from Al-Asrak in Jordan towards Sudan and landed at an airport near the capital Khartoum. At the end of the German rescue flights, the defense and foreign ministries had declared: “As long as other nations ensure the operation of air traffic, no further German evacuation flights from this region are planned.” Germans remaining in Sudan who have not yet been able to come to the airport will also be taken by international partners on their evacuation flights in the next few days, it said.
People evacuated from many countries
In addition to around 200 Germans, the Bundeswehr also brought citizens from other nations to safety, including Belgium, Great Britain, Jordan, Austria and some African countries. “The onward journey of the evacuated citizens of other nations will be coordinated with the states concerned,” said the operational command.
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Fighting in Sudan between Army and Rapid Support Forces
In Sudan, units of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engaged in bitter fighting. An agreement to integrate the RSF militia into the armed forces had previously failed. More than 420 people have been killed and another 3,700 injured in the fighting. Several agreed ceasefires were broken.
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