- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Several Indians in Sudan were spending days in deep anxiety after violence erupted in the country’s capital Khartoum and other parts over clashes between the Sudanese military and paramilitary forces that started on Saturday (15). Nearly 200 people have died while almost 2,000 have been injured so far. One Indian national was also killed by a stray bullet in Khartoum on Saturday.
Around 4,000 Indians live in Sudan, including 1,200 who have settled in that country decades ago.
One woman, who goes by the Twitter handle @devisheth, tweeted about their situation in the north African nation saying her father and 15 other Indians were left stranded in a hotel room in Sudan and sought help from the Indian leadership to help them return to India safely.
The woman, who tagged prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Sharma, external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the external affairs ministry and the prime minister’s office (PMO) in her tweet, also said that a shop opposite to the hotel where her father and others took shelter was looted by the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group involved in the conflict.
“My father and 15 other Indians are stranded in a hotel in Khartoum, #Sudan. A shop opposite them just got looted by the RSF. PLEASE GET THE OUT ASAP AND BACK TO INDIA SAFELY. #SudanClashes #ModiGovt #India,” she said in the pinned tweet.
@DrSJaishankar @AmitShah @narendramodi @MEAIndia @PMOIndia
My father and 15 other Indians are stranded in a hotel in Khartoum, #Sudan. A shop opposite them just got looted by the RSF. PLEASE GET THE OUT ASAP AND BACK TO INDIA SAFELY. #SudanClashes #ModiGovt #India— Devi Sheth (@devisheth) April 18, 2023
The MEA’s MADAD (‘MEA’ in Aid of Diaspora in Distress), a consular grievances monitoring system, responded to the tweet asking details about the woman’s father, including copies of his passport and visa and contact email to be sent over to [email protected] to register the case on Madad Portal. It also asked the Indian embassy in Khartoum to look into the matter.
Kindly send details of his father like Passport copy, visa copy, and contact detail email to [email protected] to register the case on Madad Portal. @EoI_Khartoum
kindly look into the matter.— Madad, MEA (@meaMADAD) April 18, 2023
Another person named Priyanka Sonawane also requested the Indian leadership to evacuate Indians who were left stranded in the violence-rocked African nation, including her brother who got stuck in Khartoum.
@DrSJaishankar @AmitShah @narendramodi requesting you to please evacuate Indians. My brother is also stuck in #Sudan #Khartoum. Please do something. 🙏🙏🇮🇳
— priyanka sonawane (@priyank68454758) April 16, 2023
Another woman named Mansi Seth, who tweeted on Saturday that her father was left stranded at the Khartoum airport, said in another tweet on Monday (17), “It’s been a stressful 3 days. Can hardly hear Dad’s voice once a day and when we do, we hear the constant gunshots in the background.”
She tagged Jaishankar, his deputy Meenakshi Lekhi, the MEA and the PMO.
It's been a stressful 3 days. Can hardly hear Dad's voice once a day and when we do, we hear the constant gunshots in the background. @DrSJaishankar @PMOIndia @M_Lekhi @MEAIndia
— Mansi Sheth (@MansiSheth20) April 17, 2023
