Operation Kaveri: INS Sumedha With 278 Indians Onboard Departs Port Sudan For Jeddah. WATCH

The first batch of Indians stranded in Sudan were evacuated under Operation Kaveri on Tuesday as 278 left the violence-torn nation by INS Sumedha.

The first batch of Indians stranded in Sudan were evacuated under Operation Kaveri on Tuesday. INS Sumedha departed Port Sudan for Jeddah with 278 people onboard. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday that India has launched Operation Kaveri to rescue its citizens stranded from war-torn Sudan. Jaishankar said the government was "committed to assist all our brethren in Sudan". The government said it was focusing on the safety of over 3,000 Indian citizens presently located throughout Sudan.

"First batch of stranded Indians leave Sudan under #OperationKaveri. INS Sumedha with 278 people onboard departs Port Sudan for Jeddah," spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

India said on Sunday that it had positioned two transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah and a naval ship at a key port in Sudan as part of its contingency plans to bring back stranded Indians. According to the MEA, there are risks and logistical challenges associated with overland movement, and Sudanese airspace remains closed to all foreign aircraft. It stated that the security situation in Sudan remained "volatile" despite reports of intense fighting emanating from a variety of locations in Khartoum, the nation's capital.

For the past 12 days, the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group have been engaged in bloody combat, reportedly killing over 400 people.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SUDAN?

The violence erupted in Sudan due to a power struggle between two main factions of the country’s military regime, resulting in the death of more than 250 people and leaving approximately 2,600 others injured in Khartoum and other cities. The conflict involves the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the main paramilitary force. This situation has raised the possibility of a civil war breaking out across the country.

Sudan has been under the control of a council of generals since the 2021 coup, with two military leaders at the center of the current dispute: Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is effectively the country's president and head of the armed forces, and his deputy, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who leads the RSF paramilitary group. The two generals have differing views on the country's future direction, particularly regarding the proposed shift towards civilian rule.

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Their differences have resulted in a clash after weeks of power struggle between the two army units, triggered by a disagreement over the integration of the RSF into the military as part of a transition towards civilian rule. The conflict has delayed the signing of an internationally backed agreement with political parties on a transition to democracy. A coalition of civilian groups that signed a draft of the agreement in December has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to prevent Sudan from descending into “total collapse.”