External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announces Operation Kaveri to evacuate Indians stranded in Sudan. Ships and aircraft have been deployed to bring them back home.
In a tweet, he said that around 500 Indians have already reached Port Sudan, and more are on their way. Minister also expressed India’s commitment to assisting all its brethren in Sudan.
The MEA had said in a statement that India has positioned two IAF C-130J on standby in Jeddah and that the Indian naval ship ‘Sumedha’ has reached Port Sudan.
The situation in Sudan has grown increasingly perilous, with conflict erupting over the weekend between the military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. The capital city of Khartoum has become a hotbed of violence, and evacuation efforts have proved to be extremely challenging.
France has successfully evacuated 388 people from 28 countries, including Indian nationals from Khartoum.
According to a report in the New York Times, millions of residents in Sudan’s capital are trapped inside their homes, with many running low on water and food. The eruption of fighting on April 15 has made it difficult for people to access basic necessities.
As the situation in Sudan remains volatile, the Indian government’s efforts to evacuate its citizens are a welcome move.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that all US diplomats and their families have been evacuated and operations at the US Embassy in Khartoum have been “temporarily suspended.”
Both France and Germany said Sunday they had begun evacuation operations that would assist European citizens and other nationals as well.
On April 15, violence occurred in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and across the country between forces loyal to army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The former allies seized power in a 2021 coup but later fell out in a bitter power struggle.
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