India Starts Evacuation Of Citizens From Sudan — Operation Kaveri Underway

India has started to evacuate about 500 of its citizens from Sudan, which is hit by war, according to a tweet by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Operation Kaveri is the rescue mission's name.

"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," tweeted Jaishankar.

On 23 April, India put Air Force C-130J on standby in Jeddah and Indian Navy's INS Sumedha arrived in Port Sudan to rescue Indian citizens.

In the first announced evacuation of civilians, over 150 people from 13 different countries, including India, arrived in Saudi Arabia on 22 April.

Among those evacuated were three Indian crew members of a Saudi Arabian airline that was attacked during the ongoing fighting on the ground.

France evacuated 388 people from 28 countries, including Indians, earlier on Monday (24 April).

Antony Blinken, the United States (US) Secretary of State, announced that the their embassy in Khartoum temporarily halted operations, and all personnel and their families were evacuated.

On 15 April, clashes erupted in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and other regions between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's loyalists and his rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo's powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The two groups were allies when they took over after a 2021 coup, but later fell out in a struggle for power.

Sudan's Health Ministry tweeted 420 deaths and 3,700 injuries in the ongoing fighting as on 23 April.