“India has launched ‘Operation Kaveri’ to rescue and evacuate about 4,000 Indians from the conflict-ridden and strife-torn Sudan. India has deployed two C130J transport aircraft, Naval ships INS Sumedha, INS Teg, and INS Tarkash at Port Sudan and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”

The Situation

An armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan began on 15th April 2023. The conflict started when clashes broke out across mostly the west side of Sudan, as well as in the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region.

The fighting that has erupted in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country is a direct result of a vicious power struggle within the country’s military leadership. The clashes are between the regular army and a paramilitary force called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

General Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of the armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of a paramilitary General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo General Abdel Fattah Burhan Map of Sudan group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are each seeking to seize control of Sudan.

More than 450 people have been killed and an estimated 4,000 wounded, according to the United Nations.

Indians in Sudan 2023

There are 1500 settled Indian community in Sudan. About 150 years ago the first Indian, Luvchand Amarchand Shah, a Gujarati trader who imported goods from India come to Sudan from Aden in the early 1860s. When his business expanded, he brought his relatives from Gujarat. This is how the Indian community grew and developed in Sudan. It started from the small towns in the eastern part of Port Sudan and Sawakin to interior of the country in Omdurman, Kassala, Gedaref and Wad Medani.

Total number of Indians in Sudan may be around 4,000. Only 3,100 have registered online with the Indian embassy in capital Khartoum and about 300 more are in touch with the mission. Sudan also has around 900 to 1,000 Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs).

Operation Kaveri: India’s Rescue Mission

At a high-level meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued directions for the preparation of contingency plans to evacuate Indians from Sudan.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar announced the launch of the mission to evacuate ‘Operation Kaveri‘ to bring back the stranded Indians from Sudan.

India on 23 April 2023 positioned two C130J transport aircraft of the IAF in Jeddah and the naval ship INS Sumedha at Port Sudan as part of its contingency plans to evacuate the Indians.

IAF C-130J at Jeddah

India has also deployed two more Naval ships INS Teg, and INS Tarkash at Port Sudan.

INS Teg : Op 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 kms. The travel time by bus varies from 12 hours to 18 hours for day and night move under prevailing situation.

Apart from the Sudanese authorities, the MEA and the Indian embassy in Sudan have been in regular touch with the UN, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and the US among others.

Foreign Minister Dr Jaishankar has spoken to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on the ground situation in Sudan with a focus on ensuring the safety of the Indians.

India’s effort has been to advise and assist the stranded Indians to remain safe and help them move to secure locations whenever feasible after carefully evaluating the conflict situation.

The rescue operation is going in full swing. Around 1300 Indian nationals have either arrived in India or are on their way. India has also received evacuation requests from other nationalities, which India shall be providing subject to fulfilment of all the procedures as INS Tarkash : Op Kaveri done during ‘Operation Ganga’, rescue operation from Ukraine in early 2022.

This is India’s 14th rescue operation of Indian nationals from conflict and disaster zones in last four decades.