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Sudan conflict: India's Operation Kaveri underway; 500 stranded citizens reach Port Sudan for evacuation

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 24 Apr 2023, 08:39 am

New Delhi : India has launched the operation to evacuate its citizens from war-torn Sudan, with 500 Indians already in Port Sudan, tweeted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The rescue operation has been named Operation Kaveri.

"Operation Kaveri gets underway to bring back our citizens stranded in Sudan. About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan. More on their way. Our ships and aircraft are set to bring them back home. Committed to assist all our bretheren in Sudan," tweeted Jaishankar.

On Sunday, India said that its Air Force C-130J aircraft are ready in Jeddah, and INS Sumedha has arrived at Port Sudan to evacuate Indian citizens from Sudan.

On Saturday, over 150 individuals from different countries arrived in Saudi Arabia in what was the first reported evacuation of civilians.

Along with Saudi nationals, citizens of 12 other countries, including India, were among those evacuated.

The group of three Indians evacuated by Saudi Arabia was crew members of a Saudi Arabian airline that was attacked when the conflict started on the ground last week.

On Monday, France evacuated 388 people from 28 countries, including Indian nationals.

"French evacuation operations are underway. Last night, two military flight rotations evacuated 388 people of 28 countries, including Indian nationals," tweeted the Embassy of France in India.

The US Embassy in Khartoum has temporarily suspended its operations and all US personnel and their families have been evacuated, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

On April 15, clashes erupted in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and other regions between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, now rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

After carrying out a coup in 2021, the former allies in Sudan, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, engaged in a power struggle and turned against each other.

According to a tweet by Sudan's Health Ministry retweeted by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday, the fighting has resulted in the deaths of at least 420 people and injuries to 3,700 others.