There are intensive consultations in the Athens-Berlin-Paris triangle with a view to a more direct involvement of the Greek armed forces in the liberation of Greeks or other citizens from Khartoum.

Contacts are carried out at the diplomatic level, the ministries of foreign affairs and national defense are in constant contact. In particular, the French and Germans, who control the Wadi Seidna air base, located about 25 km north of Khartoum, are asking for the opportunity to re-park Air Force S-130 from Aswan.

The goal of Athens is that the next release of Greeks and their relatives or other citizens, at the request of their countries, should be carried out directly from Khartoum. In practice, the Wadi Seidna airbase has established a coordination center for all operations to free citizens of EU member states.

A multi-wounded Greek man who was operated on at a French military hospital is due to be operated on again within 48 hours.

This is an exclusively Franco-German initiative, and not a European one, since it is extremely weak institutionally in the EU in this area.

In any case, the decision to increase the number of Greek special forces soldiers, which remains in two divisions (12 people), has not yet been made.

The first Greeks and their families arrived in Greece yesterday, and the pace of liberation has accelerated. The main concern of the Crisis Management Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been coordinating operations all these days in cooperation with the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the release of the Metropolitan of Nubian and Sudan, Mr. Savva.

Until late at night, the second C-27 that left Eleusis yesterday for Aswan was on its way to Djibouti and from there to stop in Aqaba, Jordan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Nikos Hardalias remained in Aswan, from where, together with officers and diplomats, he oversees the process, being in constant contact with Athens.

Until late at night, a wounded man was expected to arrive in Elefsina, who was operated on in a French military hospital in Djibouti. He will have a second operation within 48 hours, as he has serious injuries to his lower extremities.