Third batch of stranded Pakistanis in war-hit Sudan reaches Karachi

• PAF C-130 aircraft carrying 97 Pakistanis land in Karachi.
• Pakistan govt will continue to facilitate the safe return: FO. 
• More than 400 people killed in Sudan clashes so far.

The third batch of 97 Pakistanis evacuated from conflict-hit Sudan arrived safely in Karachi, a statement issued by Foreign Office said Saturday. 

“The government of Pakistan will continue to facilitate the safe return of stranded Pakistanis,” said the statement released on Twitter. 

A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) spokesperson said that the PAF C-130 aircraft has landed at Karachi carrying more stranded Pakistanis from Sudan. 

A second batch of 111 stranded Pakistanis also arrived in Karachi on April 28. 

The Foreign Office has been working to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in war-hit Sudan ever since the conflict began earlier this month.

So far, over 700 Pakistanis have been evacuated safety from the war-torn region as per the Foreign Office. The Pakistanis in Sudan are first evacuated to Port Sudan and then transferred to Jeddah where the PAF is bringing them back home.

What’s happening in Sudan?

Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

More than 400 people have been killed in the clashes so far.

Daglo’s RSF emerged from the Janjaweed fighters whom former strongman Omar al-Bashir unleashed in the Darfur region, where they were accused of war crimes including genocide.

The military toppled Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen protests.

The two generals seized power in a 2021 coup, but later fell out in a bitter power struggle, most recently centred on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.