Over 650 Bangladeshis in conflict-ravaged Sudan are being evacuated from the country's capital Khartoum to Port Sudan in 13 buses.
The buses left at around 12:30pm (Bangladesh time) on Tuesday, said Tarek Ahmed, acting ambassador of the Bangladesh embassy in Khartoum.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been clashing with the Sudanese army for several days. The armed RSF is headed by the powerful General Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict is between the army and the RSF over control of power in Sudan.
Even though both sides reached a ceasefire under international pressure, the counter-attacks did not stop. Army and RSF blame each other for ceasefire collapse. In this situation, the governments are taking back the citizens of different countries staying in the city.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Sunday urged the Bangladesh nationals to get registered with Bangladesh Embassy in Sudan as the evacuation will begin within a couple of days.
He said there are 1,500 Bangladesh nationals in Sudan, and so far, 700 of them have registered with Bangladesh Embassy in Sudan.
Earlier, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Seheli Sabrin said at first Bangladeshi nationals will be taken to Port Sudan from Khartoum, and from there they will be taken to Jeddah.
Later, they will be brought to Bangladesh on several Biman flights.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Khartoum arranged nine buses to take the stranded Bangladeshi nationals to Port Sudan from Khartoum and adjacent cities, and a team from Bangladesh's Consulate General in Jeddah will go there to assist them.
All Bangladeshis stranded in Sudan will be taken to Port Sudan by May 2. They are likely to reach Jeddah by May 3 or May 4.