Operation Kaveri: 3000 Indians Being Evacuated From Sudan
The Indian government has launched the rescue operation, ‘Operation Kaveri’ to save thousands of citizens who are stuck under unbearable conditions in Sudan.
In April 2019 there were widespread protests in Sudan by the country’s army and para military force called the Rapid Support Force (RSF). They together overthrew longtime Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir. They promised a transition to democracy — but instead toppled the country's transitional civilian government in a second coup in 2021. However since then, the Sudanese army and the RSF are engaged in a power struggle over who gets to run the country. There have been continuous fights between both since 15th April 2023.
The fighting has caused a humanitarian crisis, as people have been forced to remain largely in their homes, only occasionally able to use a pause in the battles to stock up — if they can — on essential supplies like water, food and medicine.
The Indian government has launched the rescue operation, Operation Kaveri’ to save thousands of citizens who are stuck under unbearable conditions in Sudan. This evacuation operation was launched on 24th April 2023. As per the website of the Indian embassy in Sudan, there were around 2,800 Indian nationals in Sudan. Along with this, there is also a settled Indian community of around 1,200 people which has been in the country for nearly 150 years. The Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Navy are involved in the operation. The IAF informed that out of all the passengers evacuated, one was above 102 years of age. INS Sumedha, stationed at Port Sudan, had also left the crisis-hit country with 300 passengers onboard for Jeddah.
Indian Navy ship, INS Teg, successfully evacuated Indians and took them to the neighbouring city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from where they are flown to India. This was the 14th batch of stranded citizens being evacuated from Sudan. As per reports, so far, around 2,500 Indian citizens have been brought back to the country. To further boost the ongoing efforts under 'Operation Kaveri', Indian carrier IndiGo joined the mission and is running 2 flights from Jeddah. Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan is currently in Jeddah to oversee the operations. India has launched several such rescue missions recently to bring back Indian citizens stuck in conflict countries like Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Yemen and even after an earthquake in Nepal and evacuated Indians from around the world during the Covid pandemic. We hope that the remaining Indians are brought back safely from Sudan.
