India has evacuated the second batch of 121 stranded citizens from Sudan as part of ‘Operation Kaveri’. The Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft transported the citizens from the Port of Sudan to Jeddah. Meanwhile, naval ship INS Sumedha brought essential relief supplies for the remaining stranded citizens as a three-day ceasefire was holding in the strife-torn African country. India had launched ‘Operation Kaveri’ to evacuate around 3,000 Indians from Sudan. India has set up a control room in Jeddah to facilitate the evacuation of Indians from Sudan. From Jeddah, India is set to bring back the Indians home in military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had issued directions for the preparation of contingency plans to evacuate Indians from Sudan.
India has positioned two transport aircraft of the IAF in Jeddah and the naval ship INS Sumedha at Port Sudan as part of its contingency plans to evacuate the Indians. After Indian Navy successfully docked INS Sumedha in Jeddah with 278 passengers on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar thanked Saudi Arabian authorities for their fullest cooperation. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan received the first batch of Indians evacuated from Sudan.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group for the last 12 days that has reportedly left around 400 people dead. Apart from the Sudanese authorities, the MEA and the Indian embassy in Sudan have been in regular touch with the UN, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and US among others.
