Sudan crisis: Amid Generals’ power struggle, India, US, UK prepare citizens’ safe evacuation
Mangalore Today News Network
New Delhi, April 22, 2023: As fighting between military generals in Sudan - despite three days of ceasefire - continues to rage beyond a week, countries like the UK, the US, India and other European nations have been preparing for the safe evacuation of their citizens.
The indiscriminate escalation between two generals - Abdel Fattah al Burhan of the Army and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Paramilitary - has pushed one of the key African nations to the brink of civil war as the infighting within the security forces has claimed more than 400 lives and has injured thousands.
Given the deteriorating situation in the capital Khartoum and nearby areas, countries across the globe have been scrambling to evacuate their citizens while appealing to both generals to invoke a truce to settle the dispute through dialogue.
DEVELOPMENTS ON SUDAN CRISIS
* As the situation grows grimmer in Sudan, the Indian government prepares to evacuate at least 4,000 Indians. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Secretary CPV Ausaf Saeed and ambassadors to the Gulf countries, who could play an important role in evacuating Indians.
* The meeting by Prime Minister Modi came a day after the government said that the ground situation in Sudan continued to be very tense and that the Embassy in Khartoum was “open, functioning and rendering all services with officials working from separate locations”.
* The PM assessed the most recent developments in Sudan and received a first-hand report of the conditions on the ground, with specific focus on the safety of Indians across the country, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
* The Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority claimed that 31 people belonging to the Hakki Pikki tribe, a semi-nomadic tribal group, are stranded and do not have enough food supplies since the clashes broke out.
* United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday that the US military is exploring options to evacuate staff of the country’s Embassy in Sudan.
"We’ve deployed some forces into a theatre to ensure that we provide as many options as possible if we are called on to do something. And we haven’t been called on to do anything yet," said Austin.
* The UK government has reportedly put its troops and aircraft on standby to evacuate its citizens from the increasingly unstable situation unfolding in the capital Khartoum. The UK defence ministry claimed it was resorting to prudent planning to address the crisis in Sudan.
* The fighting has also made it difficult for Sudanese people to leave their homes to make ends meet. "An increasing number of people are running out of food, water, and power, including in Khartoum," the UN humanitarian office said.
* UNICEF spokesman James Elder on Friday claimed that so far at least nine children were killed and at least 50 injured in the ongoing power tussle between the generals.
Courtesy: India Today