Arrangements made for evacuation of Indians from South Sudan: Sushma

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation in South Sudan, after which she said the government had made arrangements for the evacuation of Indians from the war-torn country.

The meeting, which was attended by both Ministers of State – VK Singh and MJ Akbar, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, also discussed ways to coordinate emergency assistance to Indian nationals.

“We have made all arrangements to evacuate Indians from South Sudan in case the situation deteriorates further,” Swaraj said, while noting that the situation in the country had reportedly improved.

Asserting that the security of Indians was the most important to the government, she said, “Even if the situation remains okay, we will ask them if they want to return and we will get them out of there.” 

According to the minister, there are around 600 Indians in South Sudan, of them 450 are in Juba (capital of South Sudan) and nearly 150 outside Juba, where the fighting is taking place. Juba is witnessing heavy fighting due to clashes between former rebels and government soldiers in several parts of the city.

On Monday, the MEA in its advisory had said Indian nationals desirous of departing for South Sudan may register themselves at the email ID [email protected].