The Indian government has launched a rescue operation called ‘operation Kaveri’ to evacuate the Indians stranded in the war-torn country of Sudan. These Indians will be brought back with the help of Naval ship INS Sumedha, which has been moved to a port in the country. Two Indian Airforce aircrafts, C130J, have also been parked in Jeddah for early evacuation.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “Operation Kaveri gets underway to bring back our citizens stranded in Sudan. About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan and more Indians are on their way. Our ships and aircrafts are set to bring them back home. We are committed to assist all our brethren in Sudan”. In the meantime, France too, has helped evacuate some Indians out of Sudan. The French Embassy in Delhi said, “French evacuations are underway and on Sunday night, we sent two military aircrafts and evacuated 388 people from 28 countries, including India”.
As per reports, France has evacuated 5 Indians, while some of them have been evacuated by the USA as well, but most of them need to be brought back. Nearly 3000 Indians are stuck in Sudan and India is in touch with the UN, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and the USA, to help in evacuation.
The Ministry of External Affairs said, “Our embassy in Khartoum is in regular touch with the stranded Indians and is advising them on the viability of safe movement and the need to avoid unnecessary risk. It is also coordinating all possible assistance including possible exit from Khartoum city as and when the security situation permits safe movement”.