KHARTOUM: An Internet outage is reported across Sudan. A battle between the army and the paramilitary forces continues to persist despite a 72-hour ceasefire on both sides, Al Jazeera reported.
Amid ongoing tensions between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), several countries have started evacuating their citizens from the violence-torn nation.
President of the United States Joe Biden announced on Saturday that Washington has suspended operations at its embassy in Sudan while American government employees were being evacuated from Khartoum by the US military.
The US President further stated that he is receiving regular reports from his team over the ongoing work to assist Americans in Sudan, to the extent possible.
Since the battle started, there have been more than 400 fatalities and more than 3,500 injuries, reported Al Jazeera.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia announced the safe evacuation of 91 Saudi citizens and around 66 nationals representing the following nationalities Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina. Faso.
“In the implementation of the directives of the Kingdoms Leadership, we are pleased to announce the safe arrival of the citizens of the Kingdom who were evacuated from the Republic of Sudan as well as several nationals of brotherly and friendly countries, including diplomats and international officials, who arrived in an evacuation operation carried out by the Royal Saudi Naval Forces with the support of various branches of the armed forces,” the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia said in an official statement.
Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Sudan via video-conferencing on Friday.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi assessed the most recent developments in Sudan and received a first-hand report of the conditions on the ground, with a specific focus on the safety of over 3,000 Indian citizens presently located throughout the country.
The Prime Minister expressed his condolences on the passing away of an Indian national who tragically fell victim to a stray bullet last week.
Earlier, Jaishankar had a meeting on April 20 met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York and discussed the developments in Sudan.
“We had a very good meeting. Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also discussed the G20, and Ukraine conflict, but essentially it was about Sudan,” Jaishankar told ANI.
Jaishankar said that the Indian government is in continuous touch with its citizens stuck in Sudan. (ANI)