‘Sankat Mochan’ General V K Singh leads evacuation from South Sudan

Time and again, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government has proven its skills and dedication towards serving the country. For the second time, General V K Singh has proven his credibility by leading another airlift operation in South Sudan where the situations are tensed because of the war going on between former rebels and Government soldiers. The sources reported that an operation naming “Sankat Mochan” is being launched by the Ministry of External Affairs under the leadership of General VK Singh. “We are launching OP #SankatMochan to evacuate Indian nationals from South Sudan. My colleague @Gen_VKSingh is leading this operation,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

General V K Singh onboard

Thursday early morning, India sent two C-17military transport aircraft to the war prone area of South Sudan. The aircraft will land in the capital city Juba and carry the entire Indian citizen registered with the ministry to New Delhi. According to the sources, there are almost 300 Indians stranded over there. The violence in South Sudan has disturbed the country’s peace and has claimed hundreds of lives. Amar Sinha, secretary (economic relations) in the external affairs ministry, joint secretary Satbir Singh, and director Anjani Kumar are accompanied by VK Singh. Ms, Sushma Swaraj said that “Our Ambassador in South Sudan Srikumar Menon and his team is organizing this operation on the ground”. MEA spokesperson Vikas Swaroop tweeted that “The General takes charge again! 2 C-17s proceeding to Juba with @Gen_VKSingh leading evacuation from South Sudan”. VK Singh also supervised and successfully accomplished the mission of evacuating nearly 4000 Indians from the war prone Yemen last year.

As per the records of the Ministry, there are almost 600 Indians in South Sudan, out of which around 450 are in Juba and the rest are out of the capital. The violence in the country is due to the differences between the South Sudan President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, which is not appearing to be sorted soon.

The Indian embassy in Juba stated that the aircraft were expected to land at 11 a.m. local time and Indian nationals with valid travel documents only will be allowed to board with a maximum five kg cabin baggage and no check-in pieces. The return flights will be only up to New Delhi, the statement said. Women and children will be on-boarded on priority.

In a series of tweets, External Affairs Minister tweeted, “Thanks to my colleague @manoharparrikar and my best wishes to the brave Indian Air force who are carrying out OP #SankatMochan”.

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