On Saturday, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), denied that the Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, stands with any of the two sides of the conflict in Sudan.
Al-Burhan said, in press statements, that Khalifa Haftar “contacted me, and confirmed that his support for the other party (the Rapid Support Forces) is untrue.”
Al-Burhan added to Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath TV channels that the two parties to the conflict in Sudan must sit together to find a way out of the crisis.
Regarding the current position of the conflict, Al-Burhan said that “all airports are under the control of the army, except for the airports of Khartoum and Nyala,” pointing out, “I am currently in the command centre and I will only leave it on a coffin.”
Al-Burhan announced, earlier on Saturday, that the necessary assistance will be provided to evacuate nationals and diplomatic missions of countries from Sudan during the coming hours, against the backdrop of the bloody clashes that have afflicted the country since last Saturday.
The Libyan Embassy in Sudan announced that it evacuated 83 stranded Libyan citizens stranded in Khartoum and managed to transfer them to safer places.
The evacuated Libyans were transferred to the city of Port Sudan, as a first step before arranging their travel to Libya later.
Notably, a high-ranking Libyan military official warned of the repercussions of the armed clashes in Sudan on the situation in Libya.
He called for the closure of the common borders with Sudan until the situation calms down.
The Commander of the Military Organisation and Administration Authority in southern Libya, Brigadier General Abdel-Salam Al-Busaifi, appealed to the Chiefs of Staff in the East and West of Libya to quickly close the borders.
He urged them to “assign striking military forces to protect them, and prevent any infiltration and to station reconnaissance planes at Kufra Airport.”
“I think it will be a long-term war, and we have to close our border like what Chad has done since the start of the clashes in Sudan,” Al-Bousaifi said in press statements. He pointed out that the southeast region would be most affected if the clashes spread to Libya.
On Saturday, the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Libyan citizens in Sudan to stay indoors and exercise caution.
The recent clashes between the Sudanese Army and paramilitary forces have resulted in a volatile situation. This prompted local authorities to issue advisories to expatriates, including the Libyan community.
