22 Apr 2023 16:16:PM
The Sudan crisis has deepened up with the failure of a proposed truce between the pro-government Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under General Mohmed Hamdan Daglo.
Both factions blatantly ignored the ceasefire appeal from the global community in the wake of Ramadan & Eid which is a matter of concern.
Although officially over 400 people have been killed in a week-long fight, but the ground sources suggest that this number could escalate as many as ten times as only those deaths have been accounted for where the mortal remains could reach the International Red Cross hospitals.
Scores of dead bodies are still lying on streets unaccounted for. Artillery Fire, Air Strikes & continuous gunfire is a routine in Sudan’s Capital Khartoum which is the worst affected in this war.
Viewing the threat and the current situation, a number of countries have put a hold to their evacuation plans.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly mentioned that evacuating citizens and diplomatic staff from Sudan is “impossible” right now due to security risks. Another former US diplomat and expert on East Africa at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies – Cameron Hudson said that “The worst-case scenario has come true,”.
Countries like the US, France, Japan, and the UK are now stationing their forces in nearby countries and decided to wait for the situation to become favourable for evacuation.
Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted a high-level meeting on 21st April and instructed his officials to prepare a redundant evacuation plan, the fate of the Indian diaspora is still unknown. Anticipating that this war is escalating faster than expected- India established a round-the-clock war room in Delhi and at the same time requested Egypt, Saudi Arabia & other middle eastern countries to mediate. The process is on, but the action is yet to start.
Over 4,000 Indians are stuck in various cities of Sudan awaiting their rescue. While a formal request has already been made to the Sudanese government, the nature of the operation is still a question.
The Indian Embassy in Khartoum issued an advisory to stay indoors and ration the food after an Indian, Albert Augustine from Kerala was killed by a stray bullet. This means that the evacuation of Indians from Sudan is not going to be an easy task and since the situation is totally different from Iraq, Ukraine or Afghanistan, Indian government has to adopt a totally different approach while making its evacuation strategy.
Although the recent rescue of 177 Egyptian Air Force people & 27 civilian nationals has given high hopes to the global community but the actual situation remains grim on the ground.
Let us understand the five major challenges being faced in the evacuation of Indians from Sudan.
1.) Indians are scattered all over the country- The Indian community is not located at a particular area or zone. They are scattered all over Sudan. Although a larger number of them stay in Capital Khartoum, communities have established their bases in Eastern Port cities of Port Sudan and Suakin as well as several cities of western Sudan like Kassala, Onduerman, Al Qadarif and Wad Medani. Moving them from these far-flung areas to some place for evacuation is going to be a very big challenge under the present circumstances.
2.) Lack of infrastructure, roads, and airports – The infrastructure of Sudan has collapsed. Existing roads are broken, even mined, and are subjected to intense fighting while all of the airports are damaged. Khartoum international airport has been the centerstage of fighting and is totally destroyed in SAF air strikes. Satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies revealed that at least 14 planes had been destroyed at the Khartoum airport, there are craters on the runway and bombings had set ablaze buildings and military checkpoints to the north and south of the airport.
The airports outside Khartoum like Merowe have been rendered out of service too. Under these circumstances, while the evacuation by Air becomes impossible, there are massive challenges in evacuation by road.
3.) Intense Humanitarian crisis- Humanitarian crisis in Sudan is very intense. There is no water, electricity, medicines, food, and communication even in the capital city of Khartoum. Due to lack of communication, it is difficult to establish connection with the Indian diaspora in Sudan. When it comes to healthcare, more than 70 per cent hospitals across the country are out of service due to intense fighting while the ones which are still functional are struggling as unofficially over 10,000 people are critically injured. In case the situation persists, evacuation of Indians from Sudan will become more difficult with each passing day.
4.) Clashes all across the country- Since it is a battle to gain control over the country, major populated areas of Sudan have become war zones. There are clashes going on everywhere- they are fighting in streets, in villages, on approach roads, around airports and even inside a diplomatic zone. There is no end to it. Capital Khartoum is the biggest war zone, and this factor is making things difficult while planning an evacuation. Dead bodies are littered on streets and injured ones are dying due to lack of medical care.
5.) Lack of communication between the Field commanders – This is one of the major hurdles in evacuation. The field commanders of both SAF as well as RAF have difficulties communicating with their senior commanders. It is primarily due to their scattered locations, lack of communication equipment’s and absence of power supply to charge their batteries. Due to this fact, there is a vacuum in passing instructions from top to bottom. One of the reasons why Ramadan truce failed was this and this situation is going to persist for long. Under such circumstances, there is no surety that even if senior commanders agree for a truce and allow the foreigners to be evacuated from the war-torn country, how the local commanders are going to obey the instructions.
India is known to evacuate its citizen successfully from worst affected war zones and has created examples in the past when it successfully executed evacuation operations from Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan hence the eyes of the global diaspora are concentrated at New Delhi. Knowing India’s success record, things look good but the challenges in Sudan are different and an out-of-box strategy will only be able to help New Delhi succeed in its operations.
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