Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Thousands of US citizens are safe because of Saudi Arabia’s efforts in evacuating them from Sudan, US ambassador to Saudi Arabia said on Thursday.

Michael Ratney, who recently landed in the Kingdom and started his new mission as Washington's top diplomat in Riyadh, came out on Twitter thanking the Kingdom for its recent humanitarian efforts in Sudan.

In a video posted on the US embassy's account on Twitter, Ratney spoke out in almost fluent Arabic, expressing gratitude and appreciation to the Kingdom.

He said: “I visited Jeddah to thank our Saudi partners in evacuating American citizens from the war-torn Sudan.”

Jeddah, located in the center of western Saudi Arabia's coast, was the receiving point of evacuees from Sudan through sea and air until Thursday when the Kingdom concluded evacuation operations as the warring parties in Sudan agreed on a safe path of humanitarian aid.

“Our embassy in Saudi Arabia is working around the clock with the help of our Saudi partners to help Americans evacuated from Sudan,” Ratney added.

“The US and Saudi Arabia have joint mutual interests, among them is ending the conflict in Sudan and the suffering of the Sudanese.”

“I’m thrilled to be in Saudi Arabia at this moment of history and I look forward to enhancing this important relationship between the US and the Kingdom,” he concluded.

Saudi Arabia and the US are working closely to put an end to the conflict in Sudan. Both countries sponsored the recent talks in Jeddah between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which resulted in the "Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan".