Hundreds of nationals of China, Pakistan, Japan arrive home from Sudan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan, China, and Japan evacuated a total of nearly 750 citizens from war-torn Sudan, officials said on Saturday.

The first charter flight carrying 343 Chinese nationals, evacuated from Sudan via Saudi Arabia, landed at the Beijing Capital International Airport, the state-run Global Times reported.

On Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said they evacuated over 1,300 nationals from Sudan to safe places.

"Some have left Sudan by Chinese warships and boats and some are on their way out of the country," Mao Ning, the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, told reporters in a regular briefing.

"There are still a small number of Chinese nationals outside the Sudanese capital Khartoum," she added.

Meanwhile, 357 Pakistani nationals out of around 1,500 people that were stranded in Sudan have been evacuated and arrived home.

"Third batch of 97 Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan has arrived at Karachi via (Saudi Arabian port city of) Jeddah aboard PAF aircraft C-130. The government of Pakistan will continue to facilitate the safe return of stranded Pakistanis," said the Foreign Ministry in a short statement.

Earlier, 260 Pakistanis arrived in their country from Jeddah, while over 700 Pakistanis were already evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia.

According to the Japanese media, 48 nationals have also arrived along with their family members in Tokyo through the Horn of African country Djibouti.

Thousands have fled Sudan since Monday as the fighting between the military and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated.

Sudan's army and the RSF agreed to extend the humanitarian truce on Thursday night for 72 more hours, but the parties have reported violations of the cease-fire.

The clashes in Sudan erupted on April 15, which left over 450 people dead and more than 4,000 others injured, according to the UN.