Americans told to quit Africa as protests over film continue The US State Department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-essential US government personnel from its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia and warned US citizens against any travel to the two countries because of security concerns over rising anti-American violence. In Tunisia, the warning advised Americans that the international airport in Tunis was open and encouraged all US citizens to depart on commercial flights. It said Americans who chose to remain in Tunisia should use extreme caution and avoid demonstrations. On Friday, protesters climbed the walls of the US Embassy in Tunis, torching cars in the car park, trashing the entrance building and setting fire to a gym and a neighbouring American school, that is now unusable. In Sudan, the warning said that while the Sudanese government has taken steps to limit the activities of terrorist groups, some remain and have threatened to attack Western interests. The terrorist threat level remains "critical" throughout Sudan, the department said. It noted that US officials are already required to travel in armoured vehicles and to get permission to travel outside Khartoum, where crowds burned part of the German Embassy and tried to storm the US Embassy on Friday. "Given the security situation in Tunis and Khartoum, the State Department has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from both posts, and issued parallel travel warnings to American citizens," said department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. A US official said on Saturday that Sudan's government is holding up the deployment of an elite Marine team that the US planned to send to Khartoum to boost security at the embassy. On Tuesday, protesters in Egypt breached the walls of the US Embassy in Cairo and then well-armed extremists attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans, including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Since then, protests over the video have spread to more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. While most were peaceful, marches in several places exploded into violence. Yesterday, al-Qaeda's most active branch in the Middle East called for more attacks on US embassies to "set the fires blazing," seeking to use the outrage over an anti-Muslim film. Senior Muslim religious authorities issued their strongest pleas yet against resorting to violence. The top cleric in US ally Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Sheik Abdel-Aziz al-Sheik, condemned the film but, urged Muslims not to be "dragged by anger" into violence. In the Egyptian capital Cairo, where the first protests against the film that denigrates the Prophet Mohammed erupted, police finally succeeded yesterday in clearing away protesters who had clashed with security forces for days near the US embassy. Police arrested 220 people and a concrete wall was erected across the road leading to the embassy. In his weekly radio and internet address, US president Barack Obama paid tribute to the Americans who were killed in an armed attack on the US consulate in Benghazi this week. I have made it clear that the United States has a profound respect for people of all faiths. We stand for religious freedom. And we reject the denigration of religion - including Islam," Mr Obama said. Yet there is never any justification for violence. There is no religion that condones the targeting of innocent men and women.