Evacuation of some 700 Bangladeshis from the Sudanese capital Khartoum will begin tomorrow, said Shahriar Alam, the state minister for foreign affairs, yesterday.
They will be taken from Khartoum to Port Sudan, a distance of more than 800 kilometres, by buses, he told reporters at the foreign ministry yesterday.
From there, they will be transported by sea to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. From Jeddah, the Bangladeshis will be brought to Dhaka by Biman planes.
Saudi Arabia is providing Bangladesh with the ships required for the evacuation from Port Sudan to Jeddah, Alam said.
An estimated 1,500 Bangladeshis live in Sudan.
Given the serious security concerns, Alam urged the remaining Bangladeshis to immediately register for evacuation.
It has been reported that they are living in uncertainty amid a shortage of essential supplies and widespread looting.
Only around 35 Bangladeshis safely left Sudan with the help of their employers.
The Sudanese army yesterday said it was attacking the city from all directions, with air strikes and heavy artillery, to flush out its paramilitary rivals called the Rapid Support Forces.
More than 500 people have been reported dead since fighting erupted on April 15.
Bangladesh embassy’s charge d’affaires, Tareq Ahmed, is now in Port Sudan to supervise the evacuation process.
Sudan-Bangladesh Friendship Association has written a letter to the Bangladesh embassy requesting it to arrange overnight accommodation in Khartoum, said its president Anisur Rahman.
The pick-up point decided by the embassy is an open place and it might not be safe, he added.
“The situation in Khartoum was always changing. The place safe today may not be the same tomorrow,” Alam said.
On complaints that calls to the hotline numbers opened by the embassy often are not answered, he said poor internet connectivity was probably causing it. He advised sending text messages on WhatsApp.
Bangladesh tried without success to contact the conflicting groups of Sudan for creating a safe passage for evacuation.
শেখ হাসিনা বলেন, ‘বর্তমান পরিস্থিতি আমাদের অর্থনীতির প্রবৃদ্ধির সুযোগ এবং খাপ খাইয়ে নেওয়ার সক্ষমতার ইঙ্গিত দেয় এবং বাংলাদেশ কখনই তার ঋণ পরিশোধে খেলাপি হয়নি বা তথাকথিত 'ঋণের ফাঁদে' পড়েনি।’