Evacuation operations out of Sudan ended: Foreign ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tuesday announced that its evacuation operations out of Sudan have ended after over 1,000 Pakistanis have been safely evacuated from the conflict-hit country.

In a brief statement issued by the Foreign Office, the spokesperson shared that while its operations in Sudan had ended, evacuations through Jeddah would continue until all Pakistanis are brought back safely.

In the statement, the ministry thanked China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their assistance in the evacuation process.

Taking to Twitter, the spokesperson wrote: "By Allah’s grace and tireless efforts of our embassy in Khartoum led by Amb Regi, supported by Saudi Arab and China and our teams in Jeddah and Islamabad, we have successfully [and] safely evacuated over 1,000 Pakistanis out of Sudan. With this, our evacuation operations out of Sudan have ended."

Yesterday, the ministry shared that nearly all 1,000 Pakistanis would be evacuated from the conflict-hit country within the next 24 to 48 hours.

The FO has been working to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in the war zone ever since the conflict began earlier this month.

The Pakistanis in Sudan are first evacuated to Port Sudan and then transferred to Jeddah where the PAF is bringing them back home.

Yesterday, the foreign ministry also took to Twitter to thank Saudi Arabia for their support and assistance to distressed Pakistanis in a difficult time.

What’s happening in Sudan?

Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

More than 500 people have been killed in the clashes so far.

Daglo’s RSF emerged from the Janjaweed fighters whom former strongman Omar al-Bashir unleashed in the Darfur region, where they were accused of war crimes including genocide.

The military toppled Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen protests.

The two generals seized power in a 2021 coup, but later fell out in a bitter power struggle, most recently centred on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.