‘We want to save Indians stranded in Sudan’: EAM Jaishankar

Jaishankar had recently visited Panama after a trip to Guyana where he met with President Nito Cortizo and conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s greetings, as reported by PTI.

“Began the morning in Panama City by seeking divine blessings at the Hindu temple and meeting an enthusiastic Indian community. Immensely delighted to see their love and devotion for the nation,” he tweeted.

“I am here in Panama right now. I was in Guyana for the past few days. However, my mind is in Sudan. We are conducting ‘Operation Kaveri’ there in which we want to evacuate and save Indians who are stranded in Sudan,” he said.

“We are working to bring them back or shift them to some other country and safely evacuate them,” he added.

Earlier in the day, V Muraleedharan tweeted, “Third batch comprising 135 Indians from Port Sudan arrived in Jeddah by IAF C-130J aircraft. Onward journey to India for all who arrived in Jeddah will commence shortly.”

On Monday, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar declared the commencement of ‘Operation Kaveri’, which aims to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in Sudan due to the ongoing conflict between the regular army and the RSF.

Amid a temporary calm in the conflict between the regular army and a rebel paramilitary force in Sudan, India has utilized military aircraft and a warship to evacuate over 530 of its citizens, with plans to evacuate more from the country in the near future.

Jaishankar is on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean.

India on Sunday said it has positioned two transport aircraft of the IAF in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah and naval ship INS Sumedha at Port Sudan as part of its contingency plans to evacuate the stranded Indians.

Meanwhile, The security situation in Sudan continues to be “volatile” with reports of fierce fighting coming from various locations in the country’s capital Khartoum. At a high-level meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had issued directions for preparation of contingency plans to evacuate Indians from Sudan.

In a related development, France evacuated five Indians along with citizens of 27 other countries as part of its evacuation mission from Sudan. The French embassy in India said 388 people from 28 countries, including India, were evacuated.