Saudi cultural office in Sudan attacked
Armed group storms and ransacks building in Khartoum
Cairo: Saudi Arabia has said an armed group had stormed its cultural attaché building in strife-torn Sudan.
The unidentified armed group broke into the building on Tuesday and vandalised its equipment and cameras, seized some of its properties and disabled its systems and servers, the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry strongly condemned the storming of the building and called for respect for diplomatic missions and penalising the perpetrators.
“The ministry renews the kingdom’s call for halting military escalation between the feuding sides, ending violence and providing necessary protection for diplomats, residents and Sudanese civilians,” it added.
Fighting in Sudan broke out on April 15 in the capital Khartoum between the Sudanese army and the powerful paramilitary unit, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and soon spread to other cities of the country.
Saudi Arabia has since launched massive evacuations of civilians and diplomats from the Northeast African country.
A total of 5,629 people have been evacuated so far from Sudan to Saudi Arabia. They included 239 Saudi citizens and 5,390 foreigners of 102 nationalities, according to the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
Sudan’s violence has fanned fears of a wider conflict in the country and prompted international calls for de-escalation.
Several truces between the fighting rivals have proved fragile, with each side blaming the other for the violence.
The fighting, now in its third week, has forced the exodus of tens of thousands from Sudan to neighbouring countries.