President Yoon Orders Deployment of Cheonghae Unit to Areas of Escalating Civil War

On the third day of the violent clashes between the Sudanese government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in North Africa, black smoke is rising as an aircraft burns at Khartoum Airport on the 17th (local time). The violent incident that occurred on the 15th continues, with the death toll approaching 200. [Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed on the 22nd to urgently dispatch the Cheonghae Unit to the waters near Sudan, which is experiencing a civil war, to ensure the safety of Korean residents.

Lee Do-woon, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, stated in a written briefing that a situation assessment meeting involving relevant agencies was held under the chairmanship of the Second Deputy Director of the National Security Office to secure the safety of our nationals related to the Sudan situation that morning. After receiving the related report, President Yoon ordered the Cheonghae Unit stationed at Salalah Port in Oman to be urgently dispatched to the waters near Sudan.

In North African Sudan, a week-long bloody conflict has been ongoing due to clashes between military factions. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has rebelled against the government forces (coup regime) led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan in the current Sudan crisis. Although they were comrades who jointly carried out a coup in 2021, the RSF and government forces have been at odds over integration and command issues, resulting in violent clashes since the 15th.

As the cumulative death toll exceeded 400 and the conflict intensified, our military dispatched transport aircraft and troops including the Army Special Warfare Command’s 707 Counterterrorism Special Mission Unit to standby at the U.S. military base in neighboring Djibouti, closely monitoring the situation to evacuate nationals staying in Sudan.

Earlier, on the 21st (local time), the Sudanese government forces announced in a statement that they had agreed to a three-day ceasefire starting from the first day of ‘Eid al-Fitr.’ ‘Eid al-Fitr’ is a festival where Muslims celebrate the end of the month-long religious fasting period of Ramadan by eating and drinking freely for three days.

If the ceasefire promise is kept, countries pushing for the evacuation of their nationals staying locally, including Korea, Japan, Germany, France, and the United States, will be able to smoothly carry out their plans.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.