Sudan clashes: Indians among 388 people evacuated by France
New Delhi, April 24: As the conflict in Sudan escalated, France evacuated 388 people from 28 nations, including Indian nationals, on Monday.
Evacuation from Khartoum has been extremely risky after a weekend fight between Sudan's military and a prominent paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, according to the New York Times. However, after spending days hunkered inside their homes, often as battles rage outside, more Sudanese and foreign nationals have sought to escape the city of five million people.
"French evacuation operations are underway. Last night, two military flight rotations evacuated 388 people from 28 countries, including Indian nationals," Embassy of France in India on Twitter.
Millions of citizens are confined inside their houses, with many running low on water and food following the outbreak of violence on April 15 between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Triggering a humanitarian crisis, the clashes have left at least 420 people and left behind charred tanks, gutted buildings and shops that have been looted and torched, reported Al Jazeera.
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At least 420 people had been killed and 3,700 injured in the fighting so far, WHO retweeted a post from Sudan's Health Ministry on Sunday.
On Saturday and Sunday, countries hurried to evacuate their diplomats and nationals from Sudan's capital.
"Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum," President Joe Biden said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a separate statement saying that all US diplomats and their families had been evacuated and that operations at the US Embassy in Khartoum had been "temporarily suspended."
Foreign governments began landing planes and coordinating convoys in Khartoum to bring their citizens out. According to the US, special forces flying MH-47 Chinook helicopters stormed into Sudan's battle-torn capital from a US base in Djibouti, spending about one hour on the ground and rescuing less than 100 people.
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- ANI
