India launches Operation Kaveri to evacuate Indians stranded in violence-hit Sudan

India has launched an operation to evacuate its citizens from violence-hit Sudan. The rescue operation has been named Operation Kaveri.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a tweet said Operation Kaveri is underway and about 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan on Monday.

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. pic.twitter.com/8EOoDfhlbZ

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 24, 2023

“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,” Jaishankar tweeted.

Operation Kaveri is the latest in a series of evacuation operations India has conducted over the years to rescue Indians and citizens of friendly nations from war zones such as Afghanistan and Ukraine.

The evacuation operation was launched a day after the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said two C-130s aircraft and the navy ship INS Sumedha are on standby to safely evacuate stranded Indians. According to the official data, the number of Indians in Sudan is around 4,000.

The evacuation also comes days after S Jaishankar held talks with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Both countries had assured their “practical support on the ground”.

In Sudan, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are waging a deadly power struggle across the country. The violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government four years after the fall of autocrat Omar al-Bashir and two years after the military coup. Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition.