A group of 360 Indians evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia amid fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were flown to India on Wednesday under ‘Operation Kaveri’.
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Under its evacuation mission, India has set up a transit facility at Jeddah and all the Indians have been taken to the coastal Saudi Arabian city after their evacuation from Sudan.
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan is in Jeddah to oversee the evacuation mission.
The evacuation comes days after Mr Jaishankar spoke to his Saudi Arabia counterpart. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Sudan.
“India welcomes back its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi,” tweeted Foreign Minister S Jaishakar, along with arrival pictures.
India welcomes back its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/v9pBLmBQ8X
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 26, 2023
“Operation Kaveri” is a rescue mission launched by the government to evacuate stranded Indian citizens from Sudan where the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups are fighting.
When fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan on April 15, over 300 Indian expatriates took refuge at a school in the northeast African nation’s capital Khartoum. Over the next week, they spent sleepless nights stranded losing hope as the intensification of air strikes and artillery left hundreds dead and wounded.
The warring factions in Sudan agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire on Monday after the US and Saudi Arabia mediated the truce while countries are engaged in evacuating their citizens from the country.
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