Terming the ongoing conflict in Sudan as “sensitive,” Abdalla Omer Bashir Elhusain, Ambassador of Sudan to India appreciated India’s response and its prompt action to bring back its stranded citizens in Sudan after the conflict began in the county. “The evacuation process which started a couple of days ago, has been going successfully till now. We took advantage of the ceasefire for the last few days, and most of the diplomatic missions, including the European Union, the US, France, and Jordan, have been evacuated. Yesterday, the evacuation of the Indian citizens have started, and actually, we have been working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs in India to arrange and coordinate this operation. The estimated Indian citizens in Sudan is around 3000,” said the Sudanese Envoy. He also said, “The evacuation operation started from Port Sudan. A number of estimated between 300-500 Indian citizens have been evacuated by ship and other evacuation processes are going on. The evacuation process is a very sensitive process due to the political situation, due to the violation of the ceasefire. Due to the distance between Khartoum and Port Sudan, where most of the Indian citizens are staying, which is almost 1000 kilometres, they will have to go by road. So, it is very clear and obvious that this needs a lot of arrangements and coordination. We provided security and protection for the convoy from Khartoum towards Sudan. Hopefully, this operation will continue until all Indian citizens come back safe to their homes and to their families.” Operation Kaveri was launched by India to evacuate Indians stranded in Sudan where the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups are fighting. Indian Navy has also joined Operation Kaveri with INS Teg arriving at Port Sudan on Tuesday with additional officials and essential relief materials. “I think I will appreciate and impressed about the response of the reaction of the Indian authorities and especially the people in Ministry of External Affairs. I have been working closely 24 hours a day and we really did a good job in coordinating cooperation, providing necessary permits for aircraft, for ships to fly and to land in Sudan and to bring back Indian citizens,” he added. Speaking about the current situation, the Sudanese envoy said that there are still violations from the rebel side but the ceasefire is holding better than the previous ones. “As regards to the current situation on the ground, I think the most important development is that now we’re witnessing the fourth ceasefire. The last three ceasefires were not so successful. But the fourth one, which is going through right now is holding on the ground relatively. I mean, there are still violations from the rebel side. But the ceasefire is holding better than the previous ones,” the Sudanese envoy said. “I think it is understood that during such a situation of insecurity, of clashes, one of the most scary things, for example, is to bring our people from the shelter to the port of evacuation, in the airport or Port Sudan. So, it is really a very challenging operation, the evacuation of civilians during this time of uncertainty of clashes, it is very sensitive and in my understanding, the volume of problems we faced during this operation, relatively is reasonable”, he added. Talking further on the decades-old ties, the Envoy said that the ties between the two date back long and that this conflict will not have any negative impact on the relations. “India and Sudan ties are deeply rooted, I don’t want to talk about history, but India and Sudan also enjoy a very excellent bilateral relationship, since the independence of Sudan in 1956. And even Sudan also participated in 1955 before its independence for the non-alignment movement. India is a major player in that movement, and it kept its relationship with third-world countries even after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s of the last century,” he added. As India and Sudan enjoy a lot of similarities, cultural similarities, and diversification, he highlighted about the Indians who came to the Northeast African country 100 years ago are now Sudanese. “India and Sudan have very special ties even in Sudan. We have a Sudanese community originally from India, they came to Sudan 100 years ago, and they are staying there and now they are Sudanese. We have had a very special and very strong relationship with India over the years since our independence in 1956. And we hope that this will continue for the future”, he said. Speaking about the mediation offered by any country, the envoy said that there was some news of meditation by the United States and Saudi Arabia but this has not been materialized”. “There is some news about mediation by the United States and Saudi Arabia. But this is still going on, I mean not yet materialized. A lot of peace mediation was offered by the African Union, and three leaders from Kenya, South Sudan, and Djibouti expressed their interest and intention to visit Sudan, to mediate but due to the security situation and the difficulties in arriving in Sudan and we hope that everything will be possible in the coming future”, he said.

Renowned artist Murtaza Bashir (88) is no more. After being infected with coronavirus he breathed his last at the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in the capital on Saturday (Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun). Munira Bashir, daughter of Murtaza Bashir confirmed the information. She said that Murtaza Bashir passed away at 9:10 am. He was suffering from heart, lung and kidney ailments. Murtaza Bashir, son of renowned linguist Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, was born on August 17, 1932. He was an artist, language movementee, researcher and novelist. He played active role in the language movement. Murtaza Bashir was one of them who brought injured Abul Barkat to the hospital after police opened fire on student during the language movement on 21st February 1952. He was the Professor and chairman of Fine Arts department of Chattogram University. The most famous paintings of Murtaza Bashir are Dewal, Shahid Shironam, Pakha and many more. He was awarded with Ekushey Padak in 1980 and Swadhinata Purashkar in 2019. Read In Bangla Version AH

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was ousted by the army on Thursday, brought down by months of anti-government protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule. “I announce as minister of defense the toppling of the regime and detaining its chief in a secure place,” Defense Minister Awad Ibnouf said in a somber televised address to the nation. A transitional military council would replace Bashir for two years, he said, adding that the country’s borders and airspace would be shut until further notice. The veteran leader, who swept to power in a 1989 coup, was one of Africa’s longest serving presidents. He is wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Since early morning huge crowds of jubilant Sudanese had begun thronging squares across the centre of Khartoum on Thursday as the army promised an “important announcement”. Chanting “the regime has fallen,” thousands poured into the open ground outside army headquarters where defiant protesters have braved tear gas to keep up an unprecedented sit-in now in its sixth day. The protests, which erupted in December over the government’s tripling of the price of bread, were the biggest challenge yet to Bashir’s long rule. The security agency also announced it was freeing all political prisoners. Army vehicles carrying troops were seen deploying across the centre of Khartoum from early Thursday. Troops raided the offices of the Islamic Movement, the ideological wing of Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party, witnesses told AFP. And martial music was played on state television as soldiers ordered the TV to halt its normal programming. Outside army headquarters, dozens of joyful protesters climbed on top of land cruisers and armored vehicles that had been posted to protect them from intervention by other branches of the security forces. Braving the searing 42 degree Celsius (108 degree Fahrenheit) heat, protesters hugged and kissed soldiers in the crowd. – ‘Political detainees freed’ – Sudan’s feared intelligence service said it was freeing all the country’s political prisoners, state media reported. “The National Intelligence and Security Service has announced it is releasing all political detainees across the country,” the official SUNA news agency said. But in the eastern cities of Kasala and Port Sudan, protesters stormed NISS buildings after the releases failed to materialize, witnesses said. Protesters approached the NISS building in Kasala demanding that officers free their prisoners, a witness told AFP by telephone from the city. “But NISS officers fired in the air after which protesters stormed the building and looted all the equipment inside,” he said. Protesters chanting slogans against Bashir also stormed an NISS building in Port Sudan, a witness said. The raids on NISS buildings came despite a call by protest organizers for demonstrators to refrain from attacking government figures or buildings. “We are calling on our people to control themselves and not to attack anybody or government and private properties,” the Alliance for Freedom and Change (AFC), the umbrella group that is spearheading the protest movement, said in a statement. “Anyone found doing this will be punished by law. Our revolution is peaceful, peaceful, peaceful.” – ‘It’s enough’ – “We had enough of this regime — 30 years of repression, corruption, rights abuses, it’s enough,” said one protester at the sit-in. Demonstrators have spent five nights defiantly camped outside the sprawling headquarters complex, which also houses Bashir’s official residence and the defense ministry. There has been an often festive mood at the sit-in, with protesters singing and dancing to the tunes of revolutionary songs. The demonstrators have braved repeated volleys of tear gas from members of the NISS since they began camping outside the complex on Saturday, protest organizers say. Officials say 49 people have died in protest-related violence since demonstrations first erupted in December. “I hope our revolution will achieve its goal,” said Alaa Salah, dubbed the protest movement’s “Nubian queen”, after a video clip went viral of her conducting chants with demonstrators outside army headquarters. Earlier this week, the US, Britain and Norway for the first time threw their weight behind the protesters. “The Sudanese authorities must now respond and deliver a credible plan for this political transition,” the countries’ Khartoum embassies said in a statement. Source: AFP AH