Tag: Sudan conflict

The Sudan conflict explained in 8 charts

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Close to three weeks have passed since the violence erupted in Sudan between its military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group. The fighting has dashed the country’s hopes for a peaceful transition to a civilian government. The conflict has left hundreds of people dead, thousands injured and millions displaced, according to figures from the United Nations.

Sudan is a country in northeast Africa, bordering the Red Sea. With a population of about 46 million, it is one of the continent’s most populous nations and largest geographically. It is also one of the poorest countries in the world.

The present conflict is a power struggle between two Sudanese generals: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful Sudanese paramilitary group. Here’s how it started:

Also read |Sudan conflict: Global fallout and impact on India

Conflict locations

Fighting erupted in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on April 15 in a culmination of weeks of tensions between Gen. al-Burhan and Gen. Dagalo. The airport, a military base, and the presidential palace were damaged during clashes on April 15. The Indian embassy in the city was stormed and looted. Nearby Omdurman also saw clashes. As of April 27, around 183 people had been killed in Khartoum alone. Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) showed close to 50% of all incidents of political violence between April 15 and April 24 happened in Khartoum. As of May 6, 60 of the 88 hospitals in Khartoum were out of service, according to the Sudanese Doctors Union.

In the Darfur region, Al Fasher, El Genena, El Obeid, and Nyala have seen the highest of fighting. In El Geneina, for instance, the number of fatalities grew from five in the first week to 47 in the second week. The military had retreated from Genena and the residents took up arms to defend themselves against the rampant violence. By April 28, almost all of Genena’s medical facilities, including its main hospital, had been out of service for days. The sole functioning hospital was inaccessible because of the fighting.

Also read |In Frames | Generals in a labyrinth

In El Fasher, reports came in of 30 people from Karnataka’s Hakki Pikki tribe stuck in the city amidst constant shelling and attack. Most of them have been evacuated as of May 4. Nyala city saw 51 fatalities over the two weeks. According to ACLED, most of these clashes happened along major roadways connecting Sudan’s west to its east.

The maps below show clash locations in the first and second week since April 15, when the fighting began.

Neither faction has let up their fighting. Even with ceasefires announced, fighting continued to break out. The RSF has taken control of at least four locations — the Merowe airport, in Nyala, Khartoum and Khartoum North. The SAF, on the other hand, took control of RSF headquarters and camps in Port Sudan, Kadugli and El Fasher.

Port Sudan is also the pick-up point for evacuating Indians from Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Over nearly nine days, India has evacuated around 3,862 Indians from Sudan. Besides India, countries like Saudi Arabia, United States, Britain, Egypt, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, China, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Indonesia, Canada, South Africa, Sudan’s neighbour Chad, Kenya, Ukraine, and Iran have run evacuation missions to move their citizens away from the war-torn country.

Also read:Explained | The tribal clash that killed over 200 in Darfur and its link to Sudan’s ethnic conflict

Fatalities

Due to recurring clashes in Sudan, fatalities have been reported very frequently, but the number of deaths rose exponentially in the month of April this year. From April 15-28, data from ACLED shows there were 711 fatalities reported in Sudan, out of which 671 of the deaths were attributed to the battles, 13 attributed to violence against civilians, and 27 attributed to explosions or remote violence. There were a total of 253 fatalities reported until April 14, from the beginning of this year.

There have been fatalities associated with conflicts in Sudan in every month since January 2012, data from ACLED shows. 2018, 2019, and 2020 were the only years where the average number of monthly fatalities reported were under 100. There was an average of 85 deaths reported every month in 2018; close to 47 deaths in 2019; and 77 in 2019.

In a month, Sudan has witnessed the highest number of fatalities in May 2013 (1,374 deaths), followed by April 2016 (1,080), and March 2014 (1,044). April 2023 has been the fourth highest month when it comes to the number of fatalities, where there have been 815 reported deaths.

When it comes to the deaths related to the current widespread conflict between the RSF and SAF, the most number of fatalities, as of April 27, have been reported in the state of Khartoum, which is one of the smallest but also the most populous state in the country.

As seen above, the states to the west of Khartoum are the ones that have been seeing a higher number of fatalities compared to those to the east, north, and south of Khartoum. The concentration of conflict locations, apart from the capital, is also in these states as shown in the maps above.

Also read |Geography as character: writers trace Sudan’s complex, at times contradictory, significance

Displacement

According to the UN Refugee Agency, over 1,10,000 refugees have crossed from Sudan to neighbouring countries since the start of the fighting, while about 334,000 people are estimated to have been internally displaced. The influx of refugees to neighbouring countries is expected to rise in coming days.

The most significant cross-border movements in the region have been Sudanese fleeing to Egypt, Chad, and South Sudanese refugees returning to South Sudan. Libya, Ethiopia, and Central African Republic have also reported arrival of refugees between 1000-10,000.

According to the agency, most of the refugees are sheltering under trees in villages only 5km away from Sudan. They lack clean water and food. Many of those who have arrived in the neighbouring countries have had the means to pay for transportation and, reportedly, large number of people are trying to reach the border on foot.

The refugee agency expects over 800,000 people, including Sudanese nationals and thousands of existing refugees living temporarily in the country, to flee Sudan as a result of the ongoing conflict.

According to UNHCR, the humanitarian impact of this crisis will be harsh. Sudan hosts more than 1 million refugees and 3.7 million internally displaced people. Assistance programmes that were already overstretched are now severely hampered.

Millions of Sudanese, unable to afford the inflated prices required to escape the battles, are sheltered in their homes with dwindling food, water and frequent power cuts.

Darfur, which has been witnessing internal fighting since 2003, is the most severely hit region in the country. According to the UN, about 2.6 million people are already displaced by its long conflict in Darfur. The renewed conflict have pushed the people in the region to flee the country and seek refuge in Chad.

Sudan in the international arena

The conflict inside Sudan has many external players, and many countries are ranged on one side or the other of this conflict- some for historic reasons, others due to new rivalries and interests.

Russia

Hemedti had cultivated ties with Russia. Western diplomats in Khartoum said in 2022 that Russia’s Wagner Group was involved in illicit gold mining in Sudan and was spreading disinformation. Hemedti said he advised Sudan to cut ties to Wagner after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the private military contractor.

United Arab Emirates

The most important regional ally for Hemedti before the conflict was the United Arab Emirates.

Andreas Krieg, Associate Professor at King’s College, London, told Reuters, the UAE has provided Hemedti, who grew rich through the gold trade, with a platform for channelling his finances as well as public relations support for the RSF. However, the UAE has sought to hedge its bets, retaining ties to Burhan and the army and joining the Quad, a grouping that has taken the lead on diplomacy on Sudan and includes the United States, Saudi Arabia and Britain.

Egypt

Diplomats and analysts say Egypt feels comfortable dealing with Burhan and sees him as the most likely guarantor of its interests, including in negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project upstream on the Blue Nile.

Sudan is in a volatile region, bordering the Red Sea, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa. Five of its seven neighbours — Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic, Libya and South Sudan — have been affected by recent political upheavals and conflict.

Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Israel

Ethiopia and Kenya have prominent role in regional diplomacy and previous mediation in Sudan. South Sudan hosted peace talks between the Sudanese state and rebel groups in recent years, and was designated as one of the countries that could host talks over the current crisis. Israel, which had been hoping to move forward in normalising ties with Sudan, has also offered to host talks.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

Anna Jacobs, Senior Gulf Analyst with Crisis Group, told Reuters, Riyadh has asserted itself in mediating over Sudan, as it steps up its diplomatic ambitions across the Middle East, while also looking to protect its economic ambitions in the Red Sea region.

Saudi Arabia and the United States have been leading efforts to secure an effective ceasefire. On May 6, Sudan envoys began talks to establish a ceasefire as part of a diplomatic initiative by the two countries.

The Western powers, led by the United States, supported a new transition deal to be finalised in early April. However, the deal instead helped trigger the eruption of fighting by creating a stand-off over the future structure of the military.

(Compiled by Godhashri S, Gautam Nirmal Doshi, Sandra Cyriac, Ramesh Chandran K P. With inputs from Reuters, AP, AFP, United Nations, World Bank)

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Morning Digest: May 6, 2023

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Army and Assam Rifles personnel during a flag march in violence-hit areas amid tribal groups’ protest over court order on Scheduled Tribe status, in Imphal, on May 5, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Central security forces flood crisis-hit Manipur

The Centre has “taken over” control of security in violence-hit Manipur on Friday by deploying 12 companies, comprising around 1,000 personnel, of the Border Security Force (BSF) and airlifting anti-riot vehicles to the northeastern State, even as stray incidents of violence and looting were reported from parts of the State. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has denied promulgating Article 355.

Pakistan Foreign Minister a promoter, spokesperson of terror industry: Jaishankar

Calling Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari a “promoter, justifier and spokesperson” of terrorism, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday hit out at Islamabad for its continued support to terror groups. Speaking at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council For Foreign Ministers (SCO-CFM) that he had chaired, Mr. Jaishankar said Indians felt “outrage” over a incident on Friday, referring to the firing in Rajouri in which five Indian soldiers were killed. The bilateral spat between both countries came even as the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting agreed to strengthen cooperation in a number of areas, including economic and technological spheres.

Sudan’s warring sides send envoys for talks in Saudi Arabia

Sudan’s two warring generals sent their envoys on May 5 to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said. According to the three — two senior military officials and one from their paramilitary rival — the talks will begin in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Saturday.

Fresh firefight takes place at Rajouri encounter site in Jammu: Army

A fresh firefight between the security forces and hiding militants took place in the Kandi Forest area in Jammu division’s Rajouri on May 6. The Army said the security forces engaged the hiding militants in a firefight in the Kandi Forest area in Jammu’s Rajouri around 1:15 a.m. On Friday morning, the hiding militants detonated explosives and killed five soldiers immediately after contact was established with them during the combing operation.

Operation Kaveri wraps up with 3,862 Indians now home from Sudan

India on Friday wrapped up ‘Operation Kaveri’, launched to rescue its nationals stranded in crisis-hit Sudan, with the transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force making its final flight to bring 47 passengers home. India launched Operation Kaveri on April 24 to evacuate its nationals from Sudan, which has witnessed deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group.

Border situation is ‘stable’, China’s Foreign Minister tells EAM Jaishankar

The situation along the India-China border is “generally stable” and both sides should “draw lessons from history”, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in talks on Thursday. Mr. Qin and other Chinese officials have described the border situation as being “stable” and moving to what they have called normalised management, and asked India to place the issue in an “appropriate” position in the relationship.

India at vanguard of digital revolution, its financial inclusion journey can be example for others: United Nations officials

India is at the vanguard of the digital revolution and its financial inclusion journey can be an example for other developing countries to look at, senior United Nations (UN) officials and economists have said. The discussion, organised by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, aimed at bringing to centre stage the role of financial inclusion in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

All demands of wrestlers met, let police finish its probe: Sports Minister Anurag Thakur

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on May 5 said that all demands of the wrestlers sitting on dharna in Delhi have been met and that they should let an unbiased probe be completed by Delhi Police. “It is my request to all the sportspersons who are agitating there that whatever their demands were, they were met. Court has also given its directions and they should let an unbiased probe be completed,” Mr. Thakur told reporters in New Delhi.

COVID-19 no longer a global emergency, says WHO

The World Health Organization said on May 5 that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least 7 million people worldwide. “It’s with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “That does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.”

PM Modi accepts French invite for Bastille Day celebration in Paris

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the invite from French President Emmanuel Macron to be the Guest of Honour at the Bastille Day Parade in Paris on July 14, in Paris, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Friday. Mr. Modi’s presence in Paris is being described as a gesture of special significance as India and France are celebrating the 25 th anniversary of the strategic partnership, launched in 1998.

As Ukrainian attacks pick up inside Russia, the war is coming home for Putin

For months after the Ukraine war began, which Russia still calls a “special military operation”, many ordinary Russians, particularly those whose families were spared from the mobilisation, saw the conflict as something that’s happening far away from home. Not any more: with drones attacking the Kremlin, the seat of power in the Russian capital, just a few days before the Second World War Victory Day celebrations, the war is coming home for Russians.

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Fighters rampage in Darfur as Sudan extends fragile truce

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Armed fighters rampaged through a city in Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur on Thursday, battling each other and looting shops and homes, residents said. The violence came despite the extension of a fragile truce between Sudan’s two top generals, whose power struggle has killed hundreds.

The mayhem in the Darfur city of Genena pointed to how the rival generals’ fight for control in the capital, Khartoum, was spiraling into violence in other parts of Sudan.

The two sides accepted a 72-hour extension of the truce late Thursday. The agreement, brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has not stopped the fighting but created enough of a lull for tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign nations to evacuate hundreds of their citizens by land and sea.

The cease-fire has brought a significant easing of fighting in Khartoum and its neighboring city Omdurman for the first time since the military and a rival paramilitary force began clashing on April 15, turning residential neighborhoods into battlegrounds.

Both the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, said late Thursday that they accepted the extension of the truce.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has spoken repeatedly with both generals, had earlier acknowledged the limits of the truce while saying he was determined to extend it. “We’ve had a 72-hour cease-fire, which like most cease-fires is imperfect but nonetheless has reduced violence,” he said.

The White House meanwhile encouraged Americans to take advantage of any opportunity to leave Sudan in the next 24 to 48 hours, even as Washington has faced criticism for not mounting the kind of mass evacuation of its citizens already carried out by other nations.

“We are working continuously to create options for American citizens to leave Sudan,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She warned that the “situation could deteriorate at any moment.”

A U.S. defense official said the USS Truxtun, a U.S. Navy destroyer, is in the Red Sea off the coast of Sudan, and the USNS Brunswick, a fast transport ship, is expected to reach the coast later on Thursday. The USS Lewis B. Puller, an expeditionary ship, is further south in the Red Sea, heading north.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing military operations, said none of the ships have received orders as yet to pick up citizens or other personnel.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged U.K. nationals who want to leave to get to an airfield north of Khartoum for evacuation flights. “The situation could deteriorate over the coming days,” he warned. Britain said it has evacuated 897 people on eight flights to Cyprus, with operations continuing.

The fighting has continued in some parts of the capital despite the truce, and in the western region of Darfur, residents said the violence had escalated to its worst yet.


Editorial | Sudan’s tragedy: on the power struggle between two generals 

Darfur has been a battleground between the military and the paramilitary RSF since the conflict began nearly two weeks ago. Residents said the fighting in Genena was now dragging in tribal militias, tapping into longtime hatreds between the region’s two main communities — one that identifies as Arab, the other as East or Central African.

In the early 2000s, African tribes in Darfur that had long complained of discrimination rebelled against the Khartoum government, which responded with a military campaign that the International Criminal Court later said amounted to genocide. State-backed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed were accused of widespread killings, rapes and other atrocities. The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF.

Early on Thursday, fighters who mostly wore RSF uniforms attacked several neighborhoods across Genena, driving many families from their homes. The violence spiraled as tribal fighters joining the fray in Genena, a city of around half a million people located near the border with Chad.

“The attacks come from all directions,” said Amany, a Genena resident who asked to withhold her family name for her safety. “All are fleeing.”

It was often unclear who was fighting whom, with a mix of RSF and tribal militias — some allies of the RSF, some opponents — all running rampant. The military has largely withdrawn to its barracks, staying out of the clashes, and residents were taking up arms to defend themselves, said Dr. Salah Tour, a board member of the Doctors’ Syndicate in the West Darfur province, of which Genena is the capital.

The syndicate estimated that dozens of people were killed and hundreds wounded. Almost all of Genena’s medical facilities, including its main hospital, have been out of service for days, and the sole functioning hospital is inaccessible because of the fighting.

“Criminal gangs” looted the main hospital, stealing vehicles and equipment and destroying the hospital’s blood bank, the syndicate said.

Fighters, some on motorcycles, roamed the streets, destroying and ransacking offices, shops and homes, several residents said.

“It’s a scorched earth war,” said Adam Haroun, a political activist in West Darfur, speaking by telephone with the sound of gunfire at times drowning out his voice.

Haroun and other residents said the city’s main open-air market was completely destroyed. Government offices and aid agencies’ compounds were trashed and repeatedly burned, including U.N. premises and the headquarters of the Sudanese Red Crescent.

Two major camps for displaced people have been burned down, their occupants — mainly women and children from African tribes — dispersed, said Abdel-Shafei Abdalla, a senior member of a local group that helps administer camps.

Elsewhere in Darfur, there have been sporadic clashes, particularly in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, where thousands have fled their homes, Abdalla said.

At least 512 people, including civilians and combatants, have been killed in Sudan since April 15, with another 4,200 wounded, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Doctors’ Syndicate, which tracks civilian casualties, has recorded at least 295 civilians killed and 1,790 wounded.

Meanwhile, in Khartoum, residents reported gunfire and explosions in some parts of the capital on Thursday. They said the military’s warplanes bombed RSF positions in the upscale neighborhood of Kafouri. The RSF confirmed its camp in the neighborhood was bombed.

Many are struggling to obtain food and water, and electricity is cut off across much of Khartoum and other cities. Multiple aid agencies have had to suspend operations. Fearing that fighting will escalate once more, Sudanese and foreigners have been rushing to escape.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said 14,000 Sudanese have fled into Egypt. Long lines of buses continue to form at the border, and tens of thousands more have gone to other neighboring countries or to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, trying to get onto ferries to Saudi Arabia.

Hassan Ali, a Dutch citizen who made it to the city of Larnaca in Cyprus on an evacuation flight, told The Associated Press he had spent days trapped at home in Khartoum. Most areas had no water and only intermittent electricity.

“Most of the time we (are) locked at home unless you go for something really emergency, food, medication. That’s it,” he said. Many sought shelter in hospitals, even though “most of the hospitals get attacked as well, by both sides.”

“People, they just left everything behind,” he said of those leaving. “There is no cash, There’s no money. You just take your bag.”

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Air Force plane carrying 246 Indians evacuated from war-torn Sudan lands in Mumbai

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An Indian Air Force aircraft with 246 Indians evacuated from war-torn Sudan landed in Mumbai on April 27.

The plane, which took off from Jeddah around 11 a.m. IST, landed here at 3.15 p.m., an official said. The passengers included at least two on wheelchairs.

“Another #OperationKaveri flight comes to Mumbai. 246 more Indians come back to the motherland,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar tweeted.

The first batch of 360 Indians arrived in New Delhi on April 26.

“Our efforts to swiftly send Indians back home from Jeddah is paying. 246 Indians will be in Mumbai soon, travelling by IAF C17 Globemaster. Happy to see them off at Jeddah airport,” tweeted Union minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan minutes before the plane left for Mumbai.

Under ‘Operation Kaveri’, India has been taking its citizens in buses from conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah in Indian Air Force’s heavy-lift transport aircraft and Indian Navy’s ships.

The distance between Khartoum and Port Sudan is around 850 km and the travel time by bus varies from 12 hours to 18 hours considering the prevailing situation and whether the vehicles are operating during the day or night.

Earlier, INS Tarkash from the Indian Navy reached Port Sudan to help in the evacuation of stranded Indians, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. Announcing the latest developments regarding “Operation Kaveri” that is currently under way, Mr. Kwatra said India is “extremely grateful” to Saudi Arabia for the support that it has provided to the evacuation of its citizens so far and assured that India will do “all that it requires to be done” to help its citizens in Sudan. 

Editorial | Rescue service: On ‘Operation Kaveri’ and Sudan

“On April 25, INS Sumedha brought 278 Indian nationals. It’s the same INS Sumedha which has gone back and redocked today. Two sorties of C-130J brought in 121 and 135 passengers respectively. Yesterday on 26 th April, another batch of 297 Indians have sailed out on INS Teg and two more sorties of C-130J to evacuate 264 Indians,” said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra giving an update about the Indians and the people of Indian origin who have so far been evacuated. 

INS Tarkash is the third ship to join the evacuation which is also being supported by INS Sumedha and INS Teg. The ships are being used to ferry stranded Indians from Port Sudan to the Saudi port of Jeddah from where they are being flown to India. “The pockets of concentration of Indians are in Khartoum city and its suburbs. There are also pockets in Omdurman, Port Sudan. As soon as the fighting broke out in Khartoum, our embassy immediately alerted and reached out to as many members of the Indian community as they could,” said Mr. Kwatra. 

Foreign Secretary Kwatra said India has set up control rooms in Jeddah and Port Sudan that are coordinating with the headquarter here and said the evacuation has to deal with factors such as lack of diesel and buses on the ground. He also mentioned that 42 Indian nationals were evacuated to South Sudan. “There were evacuation requests from other nationalities also. From our side we are willing to provide all possible assistance to everybody who approaches us for such assistance,” said Mr. Kwatra explaining that such a process would have to take into account the transit country – Saudi Arabia which may require fulfilment of certain procedures to be completed. 

Also read: Explained | A quick guide to the unfolding crisis in Sudan

Mr. Kwatra praised the support from the Saudi authorities saying, “We have been working very closely with the government of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi leadership and they have been extremely helpful, supportive and cooperative in this endeavour and we are extremely grateful to them for that because the positioning of our control room in Jeddah and providing of our assets who would bring back the stranded Indians in Jeddah — whether of air force and Navy — we have had excellent support and cooperation from the Saudi authorities.“

Indian citizens who were evacuated from Sudan outside Mumbai International Airport on Thursday.
| Photo Credit:
Emmanual Yogini 

Mr. Kwatra described the situation in Sudan as “highly volatile and unpredictable” and said India is in touch with both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces to ensure safety of the Indians nationals. India has been aiming to bring Indians to the “greater safety zone” as the first step and then shift them to Port Sudan before evacuating them to India via Jeddah. “Substantial number of buses are currently on their way from Khartoum city to Port Sudan. Approximately 1,700 to 2,000 people have already moved out of from the conflict zone,” he said without getting into the specificity of the numbers. Mr. Kwatra described the condition of the Sudanese capital as “volatile”. 

He assured that India is willing to help the People of Indian Origin (PIOs) in Sudan and will help them. “There are roughly 900 to 1,000 persons of Indian origin in Sudan. These are persons of Indian origin living in Sudan for over hundred years. They have deep roots in that society,” said Mr. Kwatra promising them “all assistance to them” if they so request. 

Jaishankar discusses Sudan situation with U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly

External Affairs Minister S, Jaishankar has spoken to U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and discussed the evolving situation in Sudan, as India stepped up efforts to evacuate its stranded citizens from the strife-torn African country.

Mr. Jaishankar, who arrived in Bogota in Colombia’s capital from Panama, on April 24, announced the launch of the mission ‘Operation Kaveri’ to bring back the stranded Indians from Sudan that has been witnessing fierce fighting following a power struggle between the regular army and the RSF.

“Spoke to U.K. Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly just now. Discussed the evolving situation in Sudan,” he tweeted on April 27.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on April 25 that his government has commenced a “large-scale” evacuation effort to help British nationals leave Sudan.

“The government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly,” Mr. Sunak tweeted.

Mr. Jaishankar took to Twitter to share images of the Indian evacuees after their arrival at the Delhi airport.

“India welcomes back its own. Operation Kaveri brings 360 Indian nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi,” he tweeted.

“OperationKaveri takes more steps forward. Another 136 Indian Nationals have been moved to safety in Jeddah. They will come home soon,” he said in another tweet.

A video on Indians evacuated from Sudan
| Video Credit:
The Hindu Bureau

Mr. Jaishankar is on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean.

670 Indians evacuated

India has evacuated at least 670 Indian nationals from Sudan and is looking to rescue more of its citizens from the strife-torn African nation before the end of a tenuous ceasefire between the regular army and a paramilitary force.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group for the last 12 days that has reportedly left around 400 people dead.

India stepped up its efforts to evacuate the Indians from Sudan after a 72-hour truce was agreed between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces following intense negotiations.

(With inputs from PTI)



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Sudan rivals pledge evacuation help, U.S. diplomats airlifted

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American embassy staffers were airlifted from Sudan early on April 23, as forces loyal to rival generals battled for control of Africa’s third-largest nation for a ninth day amid fading hopes for deescalation.

The warring sides said they were helping coordinate the evacuation of foreigners, though continued exchanges of fire in Sudan’s capital undermined those claims.

Also read | Saudi Arabia evacutes Indians along with other foreigners in Sudan

A senior Biden administration official said U.S. troops are carrying out the precarious evacuation of U.S. Embassy staffers. The troops who airlifted the staff out of Khartoum have safely left Sudanese airspace, a second U.S. official confirmed.

The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which has been battling the Sudanese army, said the U.S. rescue mission involved six aircraft and that it had coordinated evacuation efforts with the U.S.

The RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamad Dagolo, said it is cooperating with all diplomatic missions and that it is committed to a three-day cease-fire that was declared at sundown Friday.

Earlier, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan said he would facilitate the evacuation of American, British, Chinese and French citizens and diplomats from Sudan after speaking with the leaders of several countries that had requested help.

However, the situation on the ground remains volatile. Most major airports have become battlegrounds and movement out of the capital has proven intensely dangerous. The two rivals have dug in, signaling they would resume the fighting after the declared three-day truce.

Questions have swirled over how the mass rescues of foreign citizens would unfold, with Sudan’s main international airport closed and millions of people sheltering indoors. As battles between the Sudanese army and the powerful paramilitary group rage in and around Khartoum, including in residential areas, foreign countries have struggled to repatriate their citizens — many trapped in their homes as food supplies dwindle.

The White House would not confirm the Sudanese military’s announcement. “We have made very clear to both sides that they are responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and noncombatants,” the National Security Council said. On Friday, the U.S. said it had no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of the estimated 16,000 American citizens trapped in Sudan.

Saudi Arabia announced the successful repatriation of some of its citizens on Saturday, sharing footage of Saudi nationals and other foreigners welcomed with chocolate and flowers as they stepped off an apparent evacuation ship at the Saudi port of Jeddah.

Officials did not elaborate on exactly how the rescue unfolded but Burhan said the Saudi diplomats and nationals had first traveled by land to Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport on the Red Sea. He said that Jordan’s diplomats would soon be evacuated in the same way. The port is in Sudan’s far east, some 840 kilometers (520 miles) from Khartoum.

President Joe Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier Saturday from his national security team with no end in sight to the fighting, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the mission.

The evacuation order was believed to apply to about 70 Americans. U.S. forces were flying them from a landing zone at the embassy to an unspecified location.

With the U.S. focused on evacuating diplomats first, the Pentagon said it was moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the effort.

Burhan told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite channel on Saturday that flights in and out of Khartoum remained risky because of the ongoing clashes. He claimed that the military had regained control over all the other airports in the country, except for one in the southwestern city of Nyala.

“We share the international community’s concern about foreign nationals,” he said, promising Sudan would provide “necessary airports and safe passageways” for foreigners trapped in the fighting, without elaborating.

Two cease-fire attempts earlier this week also rapidly collapsed. The turmoil has dealt a perhaps fatal blow to hopes for the country’s transition to a civilian-led democracy and raised concerns the chaos could draw in its neighbors, including Chad, Egypt and Libya.

“The war has been continuous since day one. It has not stopped for one moment,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, which monitors casualties. The clashes have killed over 400 people so far, according to the World Health Organization. The bombardments, gunbattles and sniper fire in densely populated areas have hit civilian infrastructure, including many hospitals.

The international airport near the center of the capital has come under heavy shelling as the RSF has tried to take control of the compound. In an apparent effort to oust the RSF fighters, the Sudanese army has pounded the airport with airstrikes, gutting at least one runway and leaving wrecked planes scattered on the tarmac. The full extent of damage at the airfield remains unclear.

The conflict has opened a dangerous new chapter in Sudan’s history, thrusting the country into uncertainty.

“No one can predict when and how this war will end,” Burhan told the Al-Hadath news channel. “I am currently in the command center and will only leave it in a coffin.”

The current explosion of violence came after Burhan and Dagalo fell out over a recent internationally brokered deal with democracy activists that was meant to incorporate the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.

The rival generals rose to power in the tumultuous aftermath of popular uprisings that led to the ouster of Sudan’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir, in 2019. Two years later, they joined forces to seize power in a coup that ousted the civilian leaders.

Both the military and RSF have a long history of human rights abuses. The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of atrocities in crushing a rebellion in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

Many Sudanese fear that despite the generals’ repeated promises, the violence will only escalate as tens of thousands of foreign citizens try to leave.

“We are sure both sides of fighting are more careful about foreign lives than the lives of Sudanese citizens,” Atiya said.

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Sudanese military rules out negotiations with rival force

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Sudan’s military has ruled out any negotiations with the rival paramilitary forces to end the crisis roiling the country and says it will only accept their surrender.

Also Read: No respite in Sudan as truce falls apart, rivals battle

A statement from the military on April 20 said that engaging in talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Force would only be possible to discuss their surrender.

“There would be no armed forces outside the military military system,” it said.

The statement came as the latest attempt at a 24-hour cease-fire between Sudan’s warring forces grew increasingly strained. The two sides have been battling since April 15 for control of the strategic African country.

Fighters from Sudan’s rival factions battled around the main military installation in central Khartoum and other parts of the country’s capital on April 20, threatening to unravel the latest attempt at a cease-fire as foreign governments looked for ways to extract their citizens trapped in the conflict.

A destroyed military vehicle is seen in southern in Khartoum, Sudan on April 20, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AP

With some parts of the Sudanese capital relatively calmer than previous days, the exodus of residents in Khartoum from their homes appeared to accelerate. “Massive numbers” of people, mostly women and children, were leaving in search of safer areas, said Atiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Syndicate.

The 24-hour cease-fire, which came into effect on April 19 evening, is the most significant attempt yet to halt violence between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The rivals’ fight for control of Sudan has turned the densely populated Khartoum, its neighbouring city of Omdurman and other parts of the country into war zones, with millions of Sudanese caught in between.

Khartoum residents have been desperate for a respite after days of being trapped in their homes, their food and water running out. But whatever tenuous quiet has been brought to some areas by the truce risks quickly falling apart.

Also Read: Sudan capital hit by blasts as deadly conflict enters fourth day

“Sounds of gunfire and air bombing are still heard,” Atiya told The Associated Press said. “It is escalating, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly.”

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began on April 15, the U.N.’s World Health Organization said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

A previous truce attempt on April 18 collapsed as soon as it began, and the two antagonists in the fight — Army Chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — have seemed determined to crush each other in their struggle for power.

Diplomatic efforts were underway to try to shore up and extend the cease-fire.

Destroyed military vehicles are seen in southern in Khartoum, Sudan on April 20, 2023.

Destroyed military vehicles are seen in southern in Khartoum, Sudan on April 20, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, spoke by phone on April 20 and discussed efforts to stop the fighting and return to negotiations, Egypt’s presidency said. Egypt is allied to Sudan’s military, while the U.A.E. is close to the Rapid Support Forces.

The truce has not been firm enough to deliver supplies and relief to Sudan’s overwhelmed hospitals, Atiya said. Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water. Around 70% of hospitals near the clash sites throughout the country are out of service, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said April 20. At least nine hospitals were bombed, it said.

Editorial | Sudan’s tragedy: on the power struggle between two generals 

“We are worried that Sudan’s healthcare system could completely collapse. Hospitals need additional staff, they need additional supplies, and they need additional blood supplies,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said in a briefing on April 19.

The fighting has been disastrous for a country where the United Nations says around a third of the population — some 16 million people — are in need of humanitarian aid. The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF warned that critical care has been disrupted for 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children, who need round-the-clock treatment.

Save the Children said power outages across the country have destroyed cold chain storage facilities for lifesaving vaccines, as well as the national stock of insulin and several antibiotics. Millions of children, the aid group said, are now at risk of disease and further health complications. It said 12% of the country’s 22 million children are suffering from malnutrition and are vulnerable to other diseases.

Through the night and into April 20 morning, gunfire could be heard almost constantly across Khartoum. Residents reported the heaviest fighting around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum and at the nearby airport. Military warplanes struck RSF positions at the airport and in Omdurman, residents said.

The Egyptian and Sudanese militaries said that Egypt succeeded in repatriating dozens of its military personnel who had been detained by the RSF when it attacked Merowe airport, north of the capital, early in the fighting. Egypt said its personnel were there for training and joint exercises.

Foreign governments as well geared up to evacuate their citizens from Sudan. But with airports in Khartoum and other cities turned into battlegrounds, it remained uncertain how they would do so.

Japan’s Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada on April 20 ordered military aircraft sent to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti to stand by for an evacuation of around 60 Japanese nationals, though it was not clear when one would take place. The Netherlands sent military transport craft to the Jordanian port city of Aqaba late on April 19 to be ready as well, though the Dutch Defence Ministry acknowledged that “evacuations are not possible at the moment.”

The conflict has once again derailed Sudan’s attempt to establish democratic rule since a popular uprising helped oust helped depose long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir four years ago. Mr. Burhan and Mr. Dagalo jointly carried out a coup purging civilians from a transitional government in 2021.

The explosion of violence came after weeks of growing tensions between the two generals over new international attempts to press a return to civilian government.

Both sides have a long history of human rights abuses. The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

The conflict has raised fears of a spillover from the strategically located nation to its African neighbours.

Sudan’s fighting has also caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, the U.N. said on April 20. At least 320 Sudanese soldiers fled to Chad, where they were disarmed, said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chad’s Defence Minister. The troops were apparently fleeing from Darfur, where the RSF is the most powerful armed force.

“Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral … (but) Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war,” said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

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Sudan’s Generals battle for third day; death toll soars to 185

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As explosions and gunfire thundered outside, Sudanese in the capital Khartoum and other cities huddled in their homes for a third day on April 17, while the Army and a powerful rival force battled in the streets for control of the country.

At least 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the fighting erupted, U.N. envoy Volker Perthes told reporters. The two sides are using tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in densely populated areas. Fighter jets swooped overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies as darkness fell.

Editorial | Sudan’s tragedy: on the power struggle between two generals 

The toll could be much higher because there are many bodies in the streets around central Khartoum that no one can reach because of the clashes. There has been no official word on how many civilians or combatants have been killed. The doctors’ syndicate earlier put the number of civilian deaths at 97.

The sudden outbreak of violence over the weekend between the nation’s two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters, trapped millions of people in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low and several hospitals forced to shut down.

Top diplomats on four continents scrambled to broker a truce, and the U.N. Security Council was set to discuss the crisis.

“Gunfire and shelling are everywhere,” Awadeya Mahmoud Koko, head of a union for thousands of tea vendors and other food workers, said from her home in a southern district of Khartoum.

She said a shell stuck a neighbor’s house Sunday, killing at least three people. “We couldn’t take them to a hospital or bury them.”

In central Khartoum, sustained gunfire erupted and white smoke rose near the main military headquarters, a major battle front. Nearby, at least 88 students and staffers have been trapped in the engineering college library at Khartoum University since the start of fighting, one of the students said in a video posted online Monday. One student was killed during clashes outside and another wounded, he said. They do not have food or water, he said, showing a room full of people sleeping on the floor.

Even in a country with a long history of military coups, the scenes of fighting in the capital and its adjoining city Omdurman across the Nile River were unprecedented. The turmoil comes just days before Sudanese were to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.

The power struggle pits Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup. The violence has raised the specter of civil war just as Sudanese were trying to revive the drive for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military rule.

Under international pressure, Burhan and Dagalo had recently agreed to a framework agreement with political parties and pro-democracy groups, but the signing was repeatedly delayed as tensions rose over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command.

The U.S., the U.N. and others have called for a truce. Egypt, which backs Sudan’s military, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which forged close ties to the RSF in recent years as it sent thousands of fighters to support their war in Yemen — have also called for both sides to stand down.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said late Monday that Cairo was in “constant contact” with both the army and the RSF, urging them to halt the fighting and return to negotiations.

But both generals have thus far dug in, demanding the other’s surrender.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell tweeted that the EU ambassador to Sudan “was assaulted in his own residency,” without providing further details. EU officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dagalo, whose forces grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias in Sudan’s Darfur region, has portrayed himself as a defender of democracy and branded Burhan as the aggressor and a “radical Islamist.” Both generals have a long history of human rights abuses and their forces have cracked down on pro-democracy activists.

Heavy gunbattles raged in multiple parts of the capital and Omdurman, where the two sides have brought in tens of thousands of troops, positioning them in nearly every neighborhood.

Twelve hospitals in the capital area have been “forcefully evacuated” and are “out of service” because of attacks or power outages, the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said, out of a total of around 20 hospitals. Four other hospitals outside the capital have also shut down, it added in a statement late Monday.

Hadia Saeed said she and her three children were sheltering in one room on the ground floor of their home for fear of the shelling as gunfire rattled across their Bahri district in north Khartoum. They have food for a few more days, but “after that we don’t know what to do,” she said.

Residents said fierce fighting with artillery and other heavy weapons raged Monday afternoon in the Gabra neighborhood southwest of Khartoum. People were trapped and screaming inside their homes, said Asmaa al-Toum, a physician living in the area.

Fighting has been particularly fierce around each side’s main bases and at strategic government buildings — all of which are in residential areas.

The military on Monday claimed to have secured the main television building in Omdurman, fending off the RSF after days of fighting. State-run Sudan TV resumed broadcasting.

On Sunday, the RSF said it abandoned its main barracks and base, in Omdurman, which the armed forces had pounded with airstrikes. Online videos Monday purported to show the bodies of dozens of men said to be RSF fighters at the base, strewn over beds, the floor of a clinic and outside in a yard. The authenticity of the videos could not be confirmed independently.

The military and RSF were also fighting in most major centers around the country, including in the western Darfur region and parts of the north and the east, by the borders with Egypt and Ethiopia. Battles raged Monday around a strategic airbase in Merowe, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of the capital, with both sides claiming control of the facility.

Only four years ago, Sudan inspired hope after a popular uprising helped depose long-time autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.

But the turmoil since, especially the 2021 coup, has frustrated the democracy drive and wrecked the economy. A third of the population — around 16 million people — now depends on humanitarian assistance in the resource-rich nation, Africa’s third largest.

Save the Children, an international charity, said it has temporarily suspended most of its operations across Sudan. It said looters raided its offices in Darfur, stealing medical supplies, laptops, vehicles and a refrigerator. The World Food Program suspended operations over the weekend after three employees were killed in Darfur, and the International Rescue Committee has also halted most operations.

With the U.S., European Union, African and Arab nations all calling for an end to fighting, the U.N. Security Council was to discuss the developments in Sudan. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was consulting with the Arab League, African Union and leaders in the region, urging anyone with influence to press for peace.

At a meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy nations in Japan on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Sudanese “want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy. They want the civilian-led government, Sudan needs to return to that path.”

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