Operation Kaveri: 42 Oriyas return home from war-torn Sudan
Bhubaneswar: Amidst the ongoing Sudan conflict, around 42 Odias who were stranded in Sudan have been evacuated and returned back to India under “Operation Kaveri”.
On Friday, atleast six Odias have returned to Bhubaneswar from Delhi via special flight. The evacuated Odias narrated their ordeal and the situation in Sudan.
They addressed about the hardships they faced in the war-hit country. The war was going on the place where they lived. The were struggling even for food. They also entered their houses,looted them.
Yesterday, India brought home 754 people under its mission to evacuate stranded Indians from strife-torn Sudan. While 392 people arrived in New Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force, another batch of 362 Indians were brought to Bengaluru.
Under Operation Kaveri, India has been rescuing its citizens in buses from conflict zones in Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to Jeddah in Indian Air Force’s transport aircraft and Indian Navy’s ships.
“Nearly 2,400 Indians evacuated! INS Sumedha departs from Port Sudan with 300 passengers onboard for Jeddah. 13th batch of Indians evacuated under #OperationKaveri,” Bagchi said in another tweet.
Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan is currently in Jeddah to oversee the evacuation mission.
Earlier, France and Saudi Arabia evacuated some Indians along with citizens of other countries as part of their evacuation mission from Sudan.
According to the Indian Embassy in Khartoum, there are around 2,800 Indian nationals in Sudan, in addition to a settled Indian community of around 1,200 people that has been in the country for nearly 150 years.
Sudan has been on the boil as a result of the ongoing clashes between the army and paramilitary forces. There have been reports of violence and clashes even during the ongoing 72-hour ceasefire.
There were clashes between soldiers who support Sudan’s army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
