Govt moves to evacuate Bangladeshis from Sudan

The government has started making arrangements to evacuate Bangladeshis from Sudan as the warring sides have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire that came into effect early yesterday.

How the Bangladeshis will be evacuated will depend on the situation, Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs wrote in a Facebook post yesterday.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Khartoum is circulating these messages to the Bangladeshis there, he added.

He urged Bangladeshis to register with the embassy.

About 1,500 Bangladeshis are currently in Sudan, said Tarikul Islam, director of Africa Wing at the foreign ministry.

“Many countries, including the South Asian ones, have been evacuating their citizens via the sea. There is a border with Egypt. We are trying to find the safest route,” he told this correspondent, adding that the arrangement will be finalised in a day or two.

Violence broke out in Sudan over a week ago between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces.

At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, reports AFP.

Among the latest to die was the assistant administrative attache at the Egypt embassy in Khartoum, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.

The 72-hour ceasefire brokered by the US was agreed by the two factions while the previous bids to pause the conflict failed to take hold.