A new civil war in Sudan and the imprisonment of at least 150 Greeks and their family members, mostly in Khartoum, sparked – from the first day of clashes between the army and paramilitaries – discussions between the ministries of foreign affairs and national defense regarding the possibility of an operation to transport them away from the war zone.

In fact, there have been rather hasty leaks of maritime operations, ignoring the fact that it would take a frigate 5-6 days to travel from Greece to the Red Sea and Port Sudan, which in turn is 800 km on land. km from Khartoum. Operations of this magnitude can be conducted by countries with military forces and US order, or combined at the multinational level of NATO or the EU.

The merger was, of course, expected, as in the past the Navy organized and conducted two rescue operations for Greek citizens, citizens and foreign citizens, in 1993 from Sukhumi, Abkhazia (1015 people) and in 2014 from Tripoli, Libya (186 people) .

Since the Europeans failed to coordinate from the very beginning, and the four main countries – France, Germany, Italy and Spain – went national, Greek diplomacy immediately began to explore the possibilities of cooperation with them in order to extract from them approximately 150 Greeks and their families who wanted to leave war zone.

Contacts have been established, of course, with the Americans, who, as a rule, in these cases move on their own, by the opera and by the event. Surprisingly, diplomatic coordination with London proved to be very effective. British bases in Cyprus were used for civilian evacuation operations under the auspices of the Royal Air Force, which was preferred (against the Greek proposal) by Cypriot citizens who wanted to leave Sudan.

Thus, with hesitation, permission was given to fly two Air Force C-130s and C-27s to Aswan, Egypt, with a full medical team and 13 men from the Special Parachute Section (SWC) of the Special Warfare Command (SWCA). The indecision was due not only to the need to send these forces without the possibility of significant intervention on the ground due to their symbolic numbers and organization, but also to the fear of airworthiness of the aircraft.

The problem of the PA ferry fleet is well known. especially the C-130s, but also the much more modern C-27s, which are, however, in better condition. The sighting of the first C-27 landing at Eleusis on Tuesday morning briefly spooked the crews, but after a short four-hour repair, the plane continued on its way to Aswan and Djibouti.

The parking option provided in Djibouti was initially rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from where they wanted to take advantage of the excellent relationship with Egypt at this stage. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri assured his counterpart Nikos Dendias that Cairo would cooperate with any efforts made by the Greek armed forces to free civilians from Khartoum. Also, for Egypt, the situation in Sudan is a national security issue of the highest order, and Athens wanted to send that signal to Cairo as well, and not just send forces to push the rest of the West into Djibouti. numerous military bases (USA, China, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Japan, etc.).

After the release of the first 70 Greeks, intensive negotiations began with the French, Germans and British, who in recent days control the military base of Wadi Seidna north of Khartoum, from where planes with Europeans fly to Djibouti and from there through a safe airstrip to Europe.

Finally, in cooperation with the British, the Greek mission was given a temporary “window” between 1300 and 1400, enough time for a total of 39 people to board and for the C-130 to fly to Eleusis. Thus, the participation of the Greek armed forces on Wednesday night was almost completed.

In any case, so far, the participation of the Armed Forces in a large-scale operation requiring coordination with many different allies is considered by the leaders as a net gain. Theoretically, based on the EU’s Strategic Compass, in 2025 a European team with a Rapid Deployment Capacity (RDC) will be created in places where the interests of European citizens are at stake. Since the Eastern Europeans are sabotaging this process because they see it as an undermining of NATO, the next… Khartoum will once again have a national stamp.