Description
The first group of 360 Sudanese Indians in crisis arrived in New Delhi tonight as part of 'Operation Kaveri'. "India welcomes its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian citizens back to their home country as first flight arrives in New Delhi," Foreign Minister S Jaishakar tweeted, along with photos of the arrival. India welcomes its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian nationals back to home country as first flight arrives in New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/v9pBLmBQ8X
The evacuation comes days after Jaishankar held talks with his Saudi counterpart. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Friday to review the security situation in Sudan.
“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.
Warring factions in Sudan agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire Monday after the United States and Saudi Arabia brokered a truce as the countries work to evacuate their citizens from the country.
As part of its evacuation mission, India set up a transit facility in Jeddah and all Indians were brought to the Saudi coastal city after their evacuation from Sudan.
State Minister for External Affairs V Muraleedharan is in Jeddah to oversee the evacuation mission.
Earlier on Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it had evacuated 66 citizens of "brothers and friends" foreign countries, including some Indian citizens from Sudan.
Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries since mid-April has left at least 459 dead and more than 4,000 injured, according to the WHO.
Nearly two weeks of urban clashes have sparked a mass exodus of foreigners, while the UN has warned that a gigantic new refugee crisis could be brewing.
Foreign governments frantically organized road convoys, planes, and boats to smuggle thousands of their citizens out of Sudan, and the citizens fled overland to neighboring countries.
