Follow the latest Sudan updates here
With hundreds killed in Sudan and some neighbourhoods of the capital, Khartoum, reduced to ruins, thousands of foreigners have fled the country.
Many more are trying to escape the fighting.
As the fighting eased in Khartoum, a city of five million people, foreign governments began organising road convoys, aircraft and ships to get their citizens to safety.
Fighting broke out between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on April 15. More than 450 people have been killed and 4,000 wounded, UN figures show.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a 72-hour ceasefire, with the rival forces saying they would observe the truce.
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as other nations, were working hard to get their citizens to safety. Here is a look at their efforts.
Jordan
A Jordanian military plane arrived overnight in Amman from Port Sudan carrying 67 Jordanians and other citizens evacuated from the country, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.
It is the sixth Jordanian Air Force plane to arrive in Amman since the conflict in Sudan erupted last week.
Jordan has co-ordinated with Germany and the Netherlands for citizens from the three countries to be included in each other’s evacuation operations, the ministry said.
Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi said the kingdom will keep its embassy in Sudan operational “until the last Jordanian is evacuated”.
The minister did not give a figure on the number of Jordanians left in the country.
About 500 people were flown out on the six Jordanian planes, including Jordanians, Iraqis, Syrians, Egyptians, Canadians, Americans and Norwegians.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a tweet that Jordan’s contribution to the German evacuation effort has been “crucial”.
Egypt
Evacuation efforts by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry have allowed about 1,500 Egyptians to be extracted by land and sea, the ministry said on Tuesday night. It said it has been coordinating its rescue efforts with the Sudanese military.
The Egyptian Red Crescent has been conducting its own rescue efforts, setting up two emergency bases on the Egypt-Sudan border — one at the Arqeen land terminal on the western side of Lake Nubia and another at the Qastal land terminal, on the eastern side of the lake.
Both centres, in the southern province of Aswan, are providing dried meals, first aid services, psychological support and transport to return evacuees to their homes.
The organisation has provided 35 buses to transport foreign evacuees to Aswan Airport. Egyptians are taken to the city’s train station where they are given tickets to their home provinces.
Of the 1,203 evacuated by the organisation, 414 were Egyptians. Many more Egyptians are still stranded in Sudan.
To escape the worst of the fighting, more than 1,000 Egyptian students have made their way to the Wadi Sidna airbase north of Khartoum, Egyptian state media reported. Evacuation efforts have so far been unable to reach them as a result of military manoeuvres by both sides.
The Foreign Ministry said “work is under way to evacuate a number of Egyptians and their families from one of the airbases near Khartoum, as soon as the security situation there improves”.
Social media posts showed many people trying to escape via the Wadi Sidna airbase, with long lines of cars and pedestrians being processed by Sudanese military checkpoints around the base.
Iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani ordered two planes sent to Sudan to extricate stranded Iraqi citizens “because of the bloody events”, he said on Tuesday.
Mr Al Sudani also ordered security forces to co-ordinate with the Foreign Ministry to “ensure the safety of the [Iraqi] citizens and to bring them back to [their] homeland as quickly as possible”.
On Saturday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced the killing of an Iraqi citizen in Sudan. It did not give details on how and when he was killed.
The Iraqi diplomatic mission and 14 Iraqis were evacuated from Khartoum to Port Sudan before leaving the country this week, ministry spokesman Ahmed Al Sahaf said.
There are still at least 300 Iraqis stranded in Sudan. Of those, only 165 have asked to be rescued, Mr Al Sahaf said late Tuesday.
The Iraqi government has announced hotline numbers to Iraqi citizens and asked them to gather near the UN headquarters in Khartoum on Wednesday to be picked up by buses.
Countries outside the Middle East and North Africa have also stepped up efforts to evacuate their citizens.
Saudi Arabia
A boat with 1,687 civilians from more than 50 countries fleeing violence in Sudan arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said, the largest rescue effort by the Gulf kingdom to date.
The group was transported by a Saudi ship, with the kingdom “keen to provide all the basic needs of foreign nationals in preparation for their departure”, the ministry said.
Saudi Arabia has received several rounds of evacuees by air and sea, starting with boats that arrived in Jeddah on Saturday carrying 150 people, including foreign diplomats and officials.
On Monday, a C-130 Hercules military plane flew dozens of South Korean civilians to King Abdullah Airbase in Jeddah, and a boat ferried nearly 200 people from 14 countries across the Red Sea from Port Sudan.
Thirteen of the civilians who arrived on Wednesday were Saudi, while the rest came from countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and North and Central America, the Foreign Ministry said.
More than 2,100 people so far have been moved to the kingdom from Sudan, including more than 2,000 foreigners.
Lebanon
On Wednesday morning at dawn, 20 Lebanese citizens and 12 Palestinians with Lebanese documentation arrived at Rafik Hariri Airport in Beirut from Sudan.
They came via Port Sudan, from where they travelled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before going on to Beirut.
Palestine
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry in the West Bank has so far organised the evacuation of 300 Palestinians, ministry official Ahmed Al Deek told Reuters.
Efforts are under way to evacuate hundreds more from Khartoum and other cities, with help from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, he said.
Turkey
The first Turkish civilians evacuated from Sudan returned to Turkey on Wednesday, with more than 100 people arriving by plane at Istanbul Airport, Reuters said.
The Turks came from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where they had arrived overland from Khartoum. Several more flights were expected later on Wednesday to transport the remaining Turkish citizens crossing to Ethiopia from Sudan.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Our legal advisor
Rasmi Ragy is a senior counsel at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Prosecutor in Egypt with more than 40 years experience across the GCC.
Education: Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1978.
Section 375
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra & Rahul Bhat
Director: Ajay Bahl
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak & SCIPL
Rating: 3.5/5
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Light of the Moon
Director: Jessica M Thompson
Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Stahl-David
Three stars
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
The years Ramadan fell in May
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now