Nearly 600 Indonesian Citizens in Sudan Evacuated to Saudi Arabia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi confirmed that 569 citizens residing in Sudan have been evacuated in the first phase, following the ongoing armed conflict in the country.

In a press statement on Wednesday, April 26, Retno said 557 of them had been transferred to Jeddah. Meanwhile, 10 Indonesian Embassy staff stayed at Port Sudan to assist in the second phase of evacuation and 2 others were processing travel documents.

“Upon arrival in Jeddah, the Indonesian citizens will rest and will depart to Indonesia gradually,” Retno added.

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a Wednesday statement said 2,148 citizens of 62 countries, including 114 Saudis, arriving in Jeddah from Sudan.

"The Kingdom works to provide all the necessary needs of foreign nationals in preparation for facilitating their departures to their countries,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.

Retno appreciated the steps taken by the Saudi government to help transfer Indonesian citizens by land from Khartoum to Port Sudan, then facilitated sea transportation to Sudan. 

She also said there will be 328 more Indonesian citizens to be evacuated from Sudan to Saudi in the second batch. The government will also take seven foreigners; six Australians and one Sudanese.

According to her, there are now 947 Indonesian citizens in Sudan from previously 1,209.

Apart from the 897 Indonesian citizens who took part in the first and second batches of evacuations carried out by the government, 15 others have moved independently, while 25 others chose to stay because of family reasons.

Other Indonesian citizens have returned to Indonesia for Eid homecoming or are currently performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia, Retno added.

The conflict in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out ten days ago, sparking a humanitarian crisis as it killed at least 459 people and kept millions of Sudanese without access to basic services.

Reuters reported that the two sides agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting on Tuesday, April 25, after negotiations mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia. However, the UN Special Envoy on Sudan Volker Perthes told the UN Security Council that the two warring parties had shown no seriousness in negotiating.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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