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Canada will deploy about 200 troops to coordinate evacuations from war-torn Sudan, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said on Wednesday, with Ottawa adding that about 180 Canadians have been evacuated.

There are about 1,800 Canadians in Sudan, out of which about 700 have requested assistance from the foreign ministry, according to the Canadian government.

About 180 Canadians have already been evacuated from the region with the help of other countries, and the federal government has been working to set up its own operation to extract civilians, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said earlier on Wednesday.

Fighting erupted between Sudan's armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group on April 15. Air strikes and artillery have killed hundreds of people, wounded over 4,000, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in the vast nation where a third of the 46 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid.

Sudan's army and a paramilitary force battled on Khartoum's outskirts on Wednesday, undermining a truce in an 11-day conflict that civilian groups fear will tighten the military's grip and revive the sway of an ousted autocrat's loyalists.

Analysis: In Sudan's power struggle, the Russian mercenary group Wagner sees clear advantages in prolonging the conflict and strengthening the bargaining power of the Rapid Support Forces

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Canada has positioned two C-130 Hercules aircraft near Sudan to evacuate Canadians from the North African country once conditions on the ground permit, Anand said on Wednesday.

"There are conditions that we are monitoring very closely, one of which is the space at the airport, another is to ensure that Canadians are able to get to the airport in a secure manner," Anand told reporters in Ottawa.

Canada said on Sunday that it had temporarily suspended operations in Sudan and Canadian diplomats will temporarily work from a safe location outside the country.

Ottawa said earlier this week that Canada will introduce new immigration measures to support Sudanese temporary residents who are currently in Canada and may be unable to return home due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Sudan.

(Reuters)