As 37 Pakistanis arrive in Jeddah from Sudan, the Foreign Office has nothing but admiration for the kingdom.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch tweeted on Wednesday that a party of 37 Pakistanis had arrived in Jeddah after being evacuated from the conflict zone in Sudan.
Baloch assured the audience that the Pakistani Embassy in Sudan will continue to make arrangements for the safe residence and ultimate return of Pakistani nationals living in Port Sudan.
Pakistanis in Sudan are still part of an evacuation strategy. Baloch reported on a microblogging site that a ship had arrived in Jeddah from Port Sudan carrying 37 people from Pakistan. We appreciate the help and kindness of the Saudi government.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia hosted the greatest rescue operation in its history, with 1,687 civilians from more than 50 nations arriving in the country after escaping violence in Sudan.
They were “transported by one of the Kingdom’s ships,” and “the Kingdom was keen to provide all the basic needs of foreign nationals in preparation for their departure,” according to a statement from the Saudi foreign ministry.
Forces loyal to army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who now leads the formidable paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), clashed on 15 April.
On Tuesday, UN agencies reported that 459 people had been murdered and over 4,000 were injured in Africa’s third-largest country. Hospitals were bombed and food supplies were cut off in a country that relied significantly on international aid.
U.S. mediation resulted in relative peace in the capital Khartoum for three days, but more airstrikes were reported, and paramilitaries claimed to have taken control of a key oil refinery and power station.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced that the country had successfully rescued over 700 people from the conflict zone and brought them to the safety of the Red Sea port of Port Sudan. The rescue operation was led by Pakistan’s Ambassador Meer Bahrose Regi.
“Ambassador Meer Bahrose Regi’s team in Khartoum and Port Sudan is working day and night to facilitate the stay of Pakistanis, who are still in Sudan until their evacuation to Pakistan,” the minister continued.
More than 2,000 foreigners, according to the Saudi government, were among the 2,148 persons evacuated by air and sea from Sudan to Jeddah. A total of 150 persons, including diplomats and government officials from other countries, arrived in Jeddah on Saturday.
