146 Indians Evacuated from South Sudan in VK Singh Lead Operation
Those Indian nationals with valid travel documents were allowed to board the flight back for India.
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On Thursday, 146 Indians were evacuated from South Sudan by Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh who lead the government’s ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’ to evacuate Indians from the violence-hit area.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took to Twitter to announce the arrival of the Indian nationals, after safely leaving the conflict zone.
The Indian embassy in Juba in a statement said the flight is expected to reach there at 11 am local time and Indian nationals with valid travel documents will be allowed to board.
The flight will be only up to New Delhi, the statement said.
According to the UN, 36,000 South Sudanese civilians have fled their homes due to the fighting.
South Sudan’s government has said at least 272 have been killed, including 33 civilians, in five days of fighting that has raised fears of a return to civil war.
In a series of tweets, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday advised Indian nationals not to panic and requested Indians to make us of this opportunity and move out.
According to official data, there are a few hundred Indians in South Sudan. Some of them have set up businesses in Juba and others are working for corporates. A small number of Indian nationals also work in Christian missionary organisations.
Days of Violence
Heavy firing started again in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Monday. The clashes started a day after the UN Security Council told rivals President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar to rein in their forces and end days of violence.
The rivalry between the two dates back to 2013 when Kiir sacked Machar as his deputy. A civil war broke out soon after that. They signed a peace deal in August 2015, but then spent months wrangling over details.
On Friday, a Reuters witness saw two helicopters apparently firing in the direction of Machar’s political and military headquarters. Residents also reported seeing tanks on the streets. Heavy gunfire erupted around UN bases again and two UN Chinese peacekeepers were killed, reported AP.
(With inputs from Reuters, AP and PTI.)
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