Pakistan has evacuated more than 1,000 Pakistanis from Sudan, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday as the country completes its evacuation operations out of the conflict-hit country.

“The evacuations through Jeddah will continue until the last Pakistani returns safely,” it tweeted. The development was made after the coordinated efforts of the embassy, supported by Saudi Arabia, China, and foreign office teams.

This comes a day after another 93 Pakistanis evacuated from Sudan arrived in Islamabad on Monday. It took stranded Pakistanis eight days to reach here. They reached the Islamabad International Airport via flight PK754.

The United Nations warned on Monday that the conflict in Sudan could force 800,000 people to flee the country as battles between rival military factions persisted in the capital despite a supposed ceasefire.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded since a long-simmering power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15.

The crisis has unleashed a humanitarian disaster, damaged swathes of Khartoum, risked drawing in regional powers and reignited conflict in the Darfur region.

Many fear for their lives in the power struggle between the army chief and RSF head, who shared control of the government after a 2021 coup but fell out over a planned transition to civilian rule.

Both sides agreed on Sunday to extend a much-violated truce by 72 hours, and the UN told Reuters that the rival forces may hold ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. But air strikes and artillery rang out on Monday as smoke hung over Khartoum and neighbouring cities.

At least 1,500 Pakistanis were living in Sudan, according to the Foreign Office.

Pakistanis were being transported from the kingdom to home via national flag carrier and Pakistan Air Force flights. The government has claimed that they were bearing all expenses for the stranded citizens.

“The government is also giving Rs9,000 to every returning citizen so that they reach their house,” Adviser to the PM on Political and Public Affairs Amir Muqam told Radio Pakistan on Monday. He was at the Islamabad International Airport to welcome the citizens.

At least Rs9,500 was being given to the people going to rural Sindh and locals were getting Rs3,000, Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sajid Hussain Turi clarified.

The first batch of Pakistanis evacuated from Sudan reached home on April 28. Multiple countries have been carrying out the operations.

Mohammad Ahsan Sami, who returned home on Saturday, said that the main challenge was securing slots on ships bound for Jeddah. “There are two modes of ferrying people out of port Sudan to Jeddah: 1. Via naval ships of friendly countries like Saudi Arabia and China, 2. Commercial ferries,” Sami said.

Naval ships, especially Saudi Arabia, have a total capacity of about 200 passengers, he added. “In this, they allot a quota of about 45 people to Pakistanis. Commercial ferries have carried as many as 200 Pakistanis in one trip but these are too few and usually, one slot opens in three days.”

He went on to add that the logistics of Port Sudan to Jeddah were quite challenging, therefore the process was slow.

UN official Raouf Mazou said the body’s refugee agency was planning for an exodus of 815,000 people including 580,000 Sudanese as well as foreign refugees now living in the country. The country’s population numbers 46 million.

Some 73,000 have already left Sudan, he said.

Egypt reported 40,000 Sudanese had crossed its border, and those who made the journey said conditions were arduous. Others have gone to Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia, or sailed across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia on evacuation boats.