The Indian Air Force (IAF) has announced that nearly 1400 Indians have been evacuated from Sudan in the past few days through IAF aircraft, as the Indian government launched Operation Kaveri to bring its nationals back home amid the ongoing conflict.
According to the IAF, two C-130 J aircraft have been utilised to evacuate 260 individuals, including elderly citizens aged above 90 years and one who was over 102 years old. The IAF shared this information through a tweet.
The IAF tweeted, “With almost 1400 Indians evacuated in IAF aircraft over the past few days, two C-130 J aircraft have evacuated 260 personnel including elders who were above 90 years of age & one above 102 years of age.”
Under Operation Kaveri, the Indian government continues to evacuate its citizens from the conflict-stricken Sudan. On Monday, 186 Indians arrived in Kochi, as announced by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Twitter.
The spokesperson also shared that the 9th outbound flight carrying 186 passengers departed from Jeddah to Kochi. On Sunday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar had announced that nearly 2,300 Indians had already been evacuated, and with the landing of another C-130 Indian Air force flight carrying 40 passengers, the number increased to 2,340.
Following this, three more flights carried 229, 288, and 135 passengers, respectively, bringing the total number of evacuees to over 2,500. The Indian government aims to evacuate around 3,000 Indian-origin passengers from Sudan through Operation Kaveri.
Sudan is experiencing ongoing violence due to clashes between the country’s army and paramilitary forces, leading to a significant loss of life and injuries. The conflict has been ongoing for three weeks, and on Monday, Sudanese citizens were bracing for more violence as rival military forces accused each other of new violations of a ceasefire that was announced on Sunday.
There has been a conflict between soldiers who support Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, resulting in fighting between the two groups.
The power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) started on April 15 and has resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries, according to the Health Ministry.
The official figures state that at least 528 people have died, and 4,599 individuals have been injured. However, the United Nations believes that the actual number of casualties is higher than what has been reported.
Despite several promises of ceasefire, Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and the western region of Darfur have experienced a surge of violence. The Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) jointly overthrew the civilian government in October 2021.
However, they have been unable to establish a stable power-sharing arrangement, and their struggle for power is now jeopardising the internationally supported transition towards democracy, which could destabilise the fragile region.
Both sides have agreed to extend the formal ceasefire agreement, which was set to expire at midnight, for an additional 72 hours, in response to international, regional, and local calls, according to the RSF.
