The Netherlands is participating in an international effort to remove foreign nationals from Sudan, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said today.

“There is an ongoing operation by several countries to remove citizens from Sudan. The Netherlands participates with a team from Jordan. They will do everything they can to get the Dutch out of there as quickly and safely as possible,” Hoekstra wrote on Twitter.

In the meantime, last Saturday night the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey announced that it intends to remove the country’s citizens from Sudan.

“It was decided to ensure on April 23 the return to the country of our citizens who are in the war zones by land route and passing through third countries,” the ministry said, without giving further details.

“Citizens of third countries who have requested help are also included in our plans,” he added.

The evacuation of Turkish citizens from two districts of Khartoum and Wad Madani, 200 kilometers further south, was initially scheduled for this morning after 06:00 (local time, 07:00 Greek time).

But the evacuation of Turks from the Kafouri district in northern Khartoum has been postponed “until further notice” due to an explosion this morning near a mosque that had been chosen as a rallying point, the Turkish embassy in the Sudanese capital said on Twitter.

About 600 Turkish citizens live in Sudan.