Boat with 1,687 civilians fleeing Sudan reaches Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Evacuation

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday evacuated a total of 1687 people from Sudan, including its own citizens and nationals of 58 other countries.

The evacuees, who included 13 Saudis, arrived in Jeddah, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Among the evacuees were people from the US, the UK, France, Syria, the Netherlands, Iraq, Turkey, Tanzania, Germany, Sweden, Lebanon, Oman, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Thailand, India and Libya.

There were also nationals from Jordan, Palestine, Mauritania, Yemen, Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, Armenia, Hungary, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, Djibouti, Cape Verde, Congo, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Somalia, South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Croatia, Nicaragua, Liberia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Chad, Bangladesh, Niger, and Sri Lanka.

''The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue its efforts and offer assistance to ensure the safe evacuation of foreign nationals to their destinations,'' the ministry said.

Wednesday's operation brings the total number of people evacuated from Sudan by the Kingdom to 2148 — 114 Saudis and 2034 others belonging to 62 nationalities, it added.

Heavy fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has entered its second week, leaving more than 400 people killed and over 3,500 injured since April 15.

The Muslim World League (MWL) has praised the tremendous humanitarian and diplomatic role the Kingdom continues to play vis à vis the crisis in Sudan, especially the exceptionally successful evacuation of nationals of several Islamic and friendly countries, who included diplomats, officials, and workers of international organizations.

In a statement, Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, the MWL Secretary-General and President of the Association of Muslim Scholars, praised the operations to evacuate people of various nationalities stranded in Sudan amid the armed conflict and safely bring them to Saudi Arabia where they are provided with all the requirements until their departure to their respective homelands.

Dr. Al-Issa also appreciated the great diplomatic efforts made by the Kingdom to resolve the Sudanese crisis and communicate with all parties to the conflict to reach a comprehensive and peaceful solution. He reiterated calls to stop all military operations and give priority to the interests of the Sudanese people in this challenging circumstance.