ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday announced wrapping up the evacuation operation of Pakistanis stranded in Sudan, saying over 1,000 citizens had been safely evacuated from the war-hit African country.

It also thanked Saudi Arabia and China for their assistance in repatriating Pakistani citizens stranded in the conflict zone.

According to the FO statement, the operation was successful, with over 1,000 citizens safely evacuated from the war-torn African country.

“By Allah’s grace and tireless efforts of our embassy in Khartoum led by Amb Regi, supported by Saudi Arabia and China and our teams in Jeddah and Islamabad, we have successfully & safely evacuated over 1,000 Pakistanis out of Sudan. With this our evacuation operations out of Sudan have ended,” the FO said in a tweet.

Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sajjid Hussain Turi had on Monday said the government bore all expenses to bring back citizens home.

UN warns of ‘catastrophe’
Meanwhile, fierce fighting between rival generals raged on in Sudan today despite the latest truce, as warnings multiplied of the potential for a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Bloodshed has gripped Sudan since April 15 when tensions erupted into armed exchanges between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.