Over 680 Bangladeshis leave Khartoum for Port Sudan for evacuation via Jeddah

As many as 13 buses are transporting them to Port Sudan, from where they will return home via Jeddah

More than 680 Bangladeshis have left Khartoum for Port Sudan for evacuation under arrangements by the Bangladesh Embassy amid a conflict between the army and a paramilitary force.

As many as 13 buses are transporting them on Tuesday from three pick-up points to the port, from where they will return home via Jeddah with the help of Saudi Arabia, Acting Ambassador of Bangladesh in Khartoum Tareque Ahmed said.

Tareque, speaking to bdnews24.com by phone from Port Sudan, said 350 Bangladeshis started from Khartoum on nine buses in the morning. Minibuses were used to bring the Bangladeshis, who were staying at Al-Salam Hotel, to the intersection of Sharia Al Sittin and Madani Street as the big buses could not reach the hotel.

Another bus picked up 59 other evacuees. It may take 15 hours for the convoy to reach the port, nearly 1,000 kilometres from the Sudanese capital, according to Tareque.

He said the Bangladeshis will board a Saudi ship at Port Sudan after formalities by the Saudi and the Sudanese authorities.

Anisur Rahman, president of the Sudan-Bangladesh Friendship Association, said the expatriate Bangladeshis gathered at the hotel on Monday night.

The evacuees said 59 of them had travelled to a point 200 kilometres from the city after being robbed a few days ago. They got on the bus on the way to the port.

The foreign ministry said as many as 700 out of about 1,500 Bangladeshis in Sudan have registered for evacuation. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam had urged them all to evacuate, citing the risks of the conflict.

Shahriar said the situation in Sudan is changing rapidly. He also said those having passports will be evacuated first and those having no valid documents will be given travel permits for evacuation by the next available vessel.

The officials in Khartoum left the embassy after it came under attack. They are staying out of the capital to facilitate the evacuation.

The Saudi government has promised to help Bangladesh by allowing it to use a vessel of the Saudi Royal Navy for the evacuation, according to the foreign ministry.

The government hopes it will be possible to take the Bangladeshi expatriates to Jeddah by Thursday.

The conflict risks morphing into a broader disaster as Sudan's impoverished neighbours deal with a refugee crunch and fighting hampers aid deliveries in a nation where two-thirds of people already rely on some outside assistance.

The commanders of the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who previously shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government show no sign of backing down, yet neither seem able to secure a quick victory. That has raised the spectre of a prolonged conflict that could draw in outside powers.

Early on Tuesday, black smoke could be seen hanging over the capital Khartoum, which lies at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. Air strikes hit Bahri, on the east bank, while clashes flared in Omdurman to the west, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people have died in the fighting that pits the army under General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Each has blamed the other for the violation of a series of ceasefires.