The parents of an Irish woman trapped in war-torn Sudan with her family have demanded urgent action to get them to safety.
Catherine and John McLoughlin, from Co Mayo, were told by officials that high-level meetings were taking place to consider the evacuation of their daughter Kathy, her husband and two young children.
Mrs McLoughlin said: “We can do nothing. We feel so helpless. The ceasefire hasn’t materialised. Our little grandchildren are so traumatised. The family are in danger.”
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Kathy heads an international school in the capital Khartoum where she lives with her husband Dr Rami McAlgeed and sons Lochlan, seven, and four-year-old Liam.
She said: “We’ve had a really terrible five days since last Saturday when the fighting broke up.
“After the soldiers let Rami and the others go, we walked for hours and hours, miles and miles and endured many more difficult and scary moments along the way.
“Now we’re staying in a friend’s house but it’s not safe. There are still bombs going off nearby and we need to be evacuated as soon as possible.
“My husband Rami doesn’t have an Irish passport and I do not want to leave him behind. We have to leave together.”
Meanwhile, elite Army Ranger Wing operators are being sent to rescue Irish people from Sudan – but the Defence Forces have no way of getting them there.
Sources told the Irish Mirror the planes available to the Air Corps are unsuitable for the 5,500km flight and we will have to send them to the African country on a commercial airliner.
It’s understood troops will be flown in the first instance to the African state of Djibouti, around 1,100km from Khartoum.
They will liaise with a Department of Foreign Affairs team that has already been sent there.
And the sources said if they have to be flown to Sudan to rescue the 150 Irish citizens trapped in fighting there, they will be transported by another country’s air force.
It is likely the operation – ordered by Tanaiste and Defence Minister Micheal Martin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday – will see some 12 members of the heavily-armed ARW flown into the country within days to help evacuate Irish citizens.
The operation is likely to be similar to the ARW mission in August 2021 to Kabul to evacuate dozens of Irish citizens stranded in the Afghan capital as it fell to the Taliban.
In that case, soldiers flew to France on an Air Corps CASA and PC-12 plane, before being transported on French and Finnish military aircraft to Kabul.
A source said last night: “It is embarrassing that we cannot do it ourselves but that is the truth.
“The aircraft we have are just not suitable for a mission.”
Mr Martin announced plans for the Defence Forces to send ECAT, or Emergency Civil Assistance Team made up of diplomats and the ARW personnel yesterday.
Fighting has been raging in Sudan for weeks – with rebels taking on pro-Government forces in the heart of Khartoum.
Several European countries have already decided to get their people out and Ireland is now doing the same.
A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said the Defence Forces personnel would be there to protect diplomats working to get Irish people out of Sudan.
It added: “The Government remains deeply concerned by the situation in Sudan and the Irish Embassy in Nairobi and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin are in ongoing contact with over 150 Irish citizens in Sudan.
“The Department has also been working actively with our international partners to arrange for the evacuation of Irish citizens.
“Such evacuation operations are highly sensitive given the volatile security situation on the ground.”
Mr Varadkar said: “The situation in Khartoum has got worse in the last few days and violence is being reported across the city.
“The Defence Forces personnel and Department of Foreign Affairs officers being deployed will make every effort to provide advice and assistance
to the 150 or so Irish nationals in Sudan.
“The situation on the ground in Sudan remains extremely volatile and I wish the ECAT and Defence Forces team every success in this mission.”
Mr Martin said the decision “is a continuation of the substantial, intensive work the Department has been engaged in since this recent outbreak of violence in Sudan”.
He added: “Our primary aim is to offer our citizens every assistance through what has been an extremely difficult and challenging time.”
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