Pakistan completes evacuations from battle-hit Sudan

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals’ forces have entered their third week. – The top United Nations humanitarian official is heading to the Sudan region due to the “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis” in the conflict-racked country, the UN chief said. (Photo by – / AFP)

The foreign ministry said that the evacuation of Pakistanis out of crisis-hit Sudan ended on Tuesday with more than 1,000 nationals taken to safety since fighting erupted.


Clashes in Sudan have killed more than 500 people, displaced tens of thousands and triggered an international exodus.

“We have successfully and safely evacuated over 1,000 Pakistanis out of Sudan,” the Ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

“With this, our evacuation operations out of Sudan have ended,” it said, adding that it included all Pakistanis who had wanted to leave.

The final group of Pakistani nationals was repatriated to Jeddah on Tuesday morning, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

The evacuees were taken from Port Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia by boat, with the support of Saudi Arabia and China.


Most have already made the onward journey to Pakistan.

Many Pakistanis in Sudan work in various technical and labour-oriented roles such as engineers, steel fixers, technicians, plumbers, welders, mechanics, and labourers.

Additionally, a number of Pakistanis are also engaged in small-scale businesses in the country.

Violence has gripped Sudan since April 15 when tensions erupted into armed exchanges between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

In a Monday briefing, Sudan’s top UN aid official, Abdou Dieng, warned that the situation was turning into “a full-blown catastrophe”.

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