Finding the silver lining in a cloudy Sudan evacuation operation

OTTAWA—At first glance, Canada’s military response to the crisis in Sudan has been a total gong show. The civil strife in that country erupted on April 15 between two rival military factions seeking to secure sole control of Sudan. There were approximately 1,800 Canadian nationals in Sudan when the war erupted, with at least 700 of those requesting an evacuation to safety. However, the Canadian Embassy staff in Khartoum elected to evacuate themselves first, and by April 23 it was announced that all of our diplomats were safely deployed to a third country. This, of course, left the remaining Canadian citizens to fend for themselves. Four days later, Defence Minister Anita Anand announced that the Canadian Armed Forces would be mounting a rescue mission. Dubbed Operation Savanne, this airlift evacuation effort included approximately 200 personnel and two C130J- Hercules transport aircraft. It was not until April 27 that the RCAF were able to actually effect two evacuation flights from the Wadi Seidna air base outside of Khartoum. The first Hercules carried 45 passengers, which included a mix of Canadians, Americans, United Kingdom residents, Japanese, and Djiboutians. The second and final flight managed to lift off with a similarly mixed group of 72 evacuees. Following those flights, the tenuous ceasefire on the ground collapsed, and with Canada’s diplomats safely tucked into a third country, further negotiations proved impossible. As a result, Canada had no choice but to suspend further operations, with hundreds of Canadians still trapped inside war-torn Sudan. On the airlift side, the Canadian effort amounted to a case of too little, too late. By the time Canada announced it was going to start flying people out, the British and French were already concluding their successful evacuations—which included bringing many Canadians to safety. However, there is a bright side to this saga, and one in which Canadians can take a measure of national pride. In addition to the airlift, there was also a large-scale effort to evacuate foreign nationals by sea. By good fortune, Canada happened to have a naval presence in the region in the form of the patrol frigate HMCS Montréal and the supply ship MV Asterix. As events unfolded, the MV Asterix was the second international ship on the scene after the war erupted in Sudan. For those not familiar with the composition of the current fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the MV Asterix is a bit of an anomaly. She has the designation “MV” (Motor Vessel) rather than "HMCS" (His Majesty’s Canadian Ship) for the simple reason that Asterix is a civilian-owned and -operated ship that is leased by the RCN. Considered an auxiliary fleet ship, MV Asterix began her service with the RCN in 2018. With a displacement of 23,792 tons, Asterix is essentially a floating gas station—that is, general store—and ammunition magazine. Her role is not that of a warship, but that of replenishing warships while still at sea. As such, MV Asterix proved to be a very valuable asset to all those allied nations toiling to evacuate their nationals via the port of Sudan. While on station in the Red Sea, MV Asterix was able to replenish warships from the United States, the U.K., Spain, and France. The effectiveness of that support drew high praise from our allies. Commander Tom Johnson, the captain of the Royal Navy’s HMS Lancaster, a.k.a. “The King’s Frigate,” wrote a thank-you note to the MV Asterix’s captain and crew, which read in part, “The sprint from Muscat left us short of fuel … without your exceptional support, we simply could not have done this .” There has been international praise for the extremely successful French evacuation operation. Being able to stage missions out of their military base in neighbouring Djibouti, the French were the first to co-ordinate the air evacuations via the Wadi Seidna air base. They were also credited with the first large-scale maritime evacuation. In turn, French Vice-Admiral Emmanuel Slaars gave credit to Canada’s MV Asterix for the success of that operation. In thanking the captain and crew of MV Asterix, Slaars wrote: “These simple but sincere words to thank you for your great service in support of FS Lorraine. The which you granted us at night, with ultra-short notice early this week has appeared pivotal to the success of the Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) conducted inside Port Sudan by Lorraine.” As a result of that joint operation, the French were able to safely extract 398 evacuees, who included more than 100 children and 10 Canadian citizens. Suffice it to say, then, that Canada’s response to the Sudan crisis was not a complete gong show. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times