NEW DELHI: At least 3,400 Indians stuck in strife-torn Sudan were rescued by the Indian authorities under Operation Kaveri.
Even as other countries are involved in evacuating its citizens from Sudan, The Associated Press Monday night quoting a top UN official in the country reported that the warring generals have agreed to send representatives for negotiations, potentially in Saudi Arabia, even as the two sides clashed in the capital of Khartoum despite another three-day extension of a fragile cease-fire.
If the talks come together, they would initially focus on establishing a “stable and reliable” cease-fire, Volker Perthes told The Associated Press. However, he warned of challenges in holding the negotiations.
Operation Kaveri
"The Indian government has worked around the clock to get our citizens back", Foreign Secretary Kwatra said.
The operation began with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, anchoring a high-level meeting in Sudan and subsequently sending Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan to oversee the rescue operations in Jeddah.
"The Saudi government has extended a lot of help as a result of which we have been able to establish basic makeshift facilities with all amenities for our citizens,’’ Kwatra added.
The last batch of Indians is expected to reach India by Wednesday as nearly all Indians are in the safe zone and have left Sudan. They would reach India through various air connections.
Private domestic carrier, Spicejet too joined in the rescue efforts by bringing back stranded Indians to Kochi from Jeddah on Monday.
India had earlier taken the services of Saudi Airlines, besides flying its own Indian Air Force C130J aircraft to fly Indians across different cities which included Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The Indian embassy in Khartoum was near the airport which was close to the conflict zone, around Indian embassy staff members worked from a different location and yet could coordinate efforts with the Indians spread across Sudan.
Some Indians left their homes without documents so the MEA had to facilitate their documents, getting buses or fuel for buses was an uphill task. With no or poor network it was difficult to coordinate as sometimes the conversations couldn’t be completed. Loading passengers and sending them on a bus to reach Port of Sudan (which took anywhere between 12 to 18 hours to cover a distance of 850 kms) was the second phase. On reaching the Port of Sudan these passengers were either sent by air or by ship to Jeddah from where they took India-bound flights.
Besides the 3500 Indians, there are also 1000 people of Indian origin (PIO) in Sudan. However, since they have been settled in Sudan for over a century and have Sudanese passports they haven’t shown any interest in moving out.
India also managed to rescue a French embassy staff from Khartoum earlier.
US evacuates 1000 citizens
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, by Sunday nearly 1,000 Americans had left Sudan, with another convoy having arrived at Port Sudan to travel onwards via Saudi Arabia.
Britain said it has evacuated 2,122 people, mostly British nationals and their dependents and had arranged an extra flight from Port Sudan on Monday after announcing its last flight from Khartoum on Saturday, citing a decline in demand and volatility on the ground.
Germany said on Wednesday it had ended its operation to evacuate people from Sudan, with more than 700 people flown out, including around 200 German citizens.
(With inputs from AP and Reuters.)