External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said the government of India has made arrangements to evacuate the hundreds of Indians stranded in South Sudan capital Juba which is in the brink of a civil war. The Union minister held an “emergency assistance meeting” to plan the rescue. Ministers of State VK Singh and MJ Akbar, and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar attended the meeting, reported dna.
The Indian embassy has been collecting contact details and addresses of those stuck in the African nation, according to The Hindu. The situation in the city has improved marginally and the airport has also resumed operations, Veer Dadhia, an Indian in Juba, told the English daily. "Even if the situation remains ok, we will ask them if they want to return and we will get them out of there," Swaraj said after the meeting. She added that her ministry has set up a task force to keep an eye on the developments in the war-torn country.
More than 300 people have been killed in fighting between groups loyal to President Salva Kiir and others supporting Vice-President Riek Machar, despite a deal signed between the two factions in August 2015.
After a meeting convened by the United Nations Security Council on Sunday to discuss the deteriorating situation in the African nation, Britain’s deputy permanent representative, Peter Wilson, said it was essential to “unequivocally condemn the violence happening in Juba and ensure the UN mission has the strong backing of the security council [and] make sure that we are working very closely with the region to make sure the violence stops.”
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