External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today that India’s operation to evacuate its citizens from battle-torn Sudan is underway.

Dr. S Jaishankar tweeted, “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”, through his official Twitter handle.

The rescue operation has been named Operation Kaveri.

On Sunday, India said that Air Force C-130J is on standby in Jeddah and INS Sumedha has reached Port Sudan to evacuate its nationals.

The Embassy of France in India tweeted, “French evacuation operations are underway. Last night, two military flight rotations evacuated 388 people of 28 countries, including Indian nationals. 🇫🇷🤝🇮🇳”, through its official Twitter.

“Watch how the French Armed Forces and diplomatic teams are organising evacuation flights, which also included Indian🇮🇳 nationals”, Embassy added in another tweet.

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State said, “All US personnel and their families had been evacuated and operations at the US Embassy in Khartoum have been temporarily suspended”.

On Saturday, more than 150 people from various nations landed in Saudi Arabia in the first announced evacuation of civilians. Other than Saudis, it had nationals from 12 other countries, including India. The three Indians rescued by Saudi Arabia were crew members of the Saudi Arabian airline that was shot at as the fighting broke out on the ground last week.

Earlier today, France rescued 388 people from 28 nations, including Indian nationals.

On April 15, 2023, violence erupted in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and across the country between forces loyal to the army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the formidable paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

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