Japan has moved to urgently remove 45 of its nationals and their relatives from Sudan and temporarily closed its embassy in Khartoum, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and officials announced today.

“A total of 45 people” boarded “a C2 transport aircraft” of the Japanese armed forces sent to Sudan and took off from the eastern part of the country “to Djibouti”, Mr Kishida told the press.

He added that four other Japanese nationals were also able to leave Sudan for Djibouti and Ethiopia thanks to the help of France and international organizations.

A few hours earlier, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a press release that the country’s embassy in Khartoum is now temporarily closed, after the removal of its staff.

Japanese authorities estimated that about 60 of the country’s nationals were in Sudan before they made the decision to rush them out of the country where hostilities broke out in the middle of the month.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will set up a liaison office in Djibouti to continue offering assistance to Japanese people remaining in Sudan if they express an intention to leave the country.

Several states are carrying out rushed operations to repatriate their nationals from Sudan, where the armed forces and paramilitaries have been embroiled in war more than a week ago.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hostilities, mainly in the capital Khartoum and Darfur state (west), have killed at least 420 people and injured at least 3,700 others.

These numbers are probably greatly underestimated.