'Situation Tense, But Doing Everything To Ensure Safety Of Indians': MEA On Sudan Violence

India is closely monitoring the violence in Sudan and is doing everything to ensure safety of Indians there, the Ministry of External Affairs has assured.

This picture taken on April 16, 2023, shows Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

India on Thursday expressed its concerns about the tense ground situation in Sudan and stated that it is in contact with various countries to ensure the safety of Indians affected by the violence. Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi said that India is closely monitoring the situation in Sudan.

"The situation on the ground continues to be very tense. Our focus is on ensuring the safety of the individuals. We are in touch with people through different channels," Bagchi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "The Embassy of India in Khartoum is open, functioning and rendering all services with officials working from separate locations. Nobody is inside the Embassy building right now," he said.

He also mentioned that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to meet with the UN Secretary-General in New York to discuss the situation in Sudan. Bagchi emphasized that the safety and security of Indians is their top priority. In response to a question about evacuating Indians from Sudan, he stated that plans are being developed, but it will be dependent on the ground situation. "External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is in New York and will be meeting with UN General Secretary on the Sudan crisis," Bagchi said.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SUDAN?

A violent clash has 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. Their differences have resulted in a clash that began on Saturday after weeks of power struggles 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.

Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that 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.”

(With PTI inputs.)