The 542 evacuees are now heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by sea from the designated safe zone in Port Sudan, before heading back to Indonesia, in the first out of two rounds of evacuation to repatriate a total of 1,209 Indonesian nationals residing in Sudan.

Most of the evacuees were rescued from Khartoum, the epicenter of Sudan’s armed conflict, some 830 kilometers away from the safe zone, by an Indonesian team of envoys, military and medical personnel.

Since conflict broke out between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the commander of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), on April 15, two 72-hour ceasefires have been announced. The first was announced last Friday ahead of Idul Fitri celebrations, and the second on Tuesday after the United States’ successful negotiations to broker the truce.

The first period of the ceasefire saw dozens of foreign countries, including Indonesia, taking advantage by doing the bulk of their evacuation efforts.

“It was our initial plan to evacuate all Indonesian citizens during the [first] ceasefire. But there were fuel limitations imposed on the evacuation buses, making it impossible to do everything in one go,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in a video statement on Monday.

The Foreign Ministry did not respond immediately on Tuesday when asked whether the second round of evacuation had begun following the most recent ceasefire.

Read also: Indonesia begins repatriation of 1,200 nationals from conflict-ridden Sudan

The latest information from Monday said eight buses and one minibus have been deployed by Jakarta to rescue its remaining citizens, mostly university students. Fifteen checkpoints spread throughout the Khartoum-Port Sudan route have also been established.

Indonesia is among the many countries that have been actively rescuing its citizens from Sudan since the conflict’s outset. So far at least 24 countries have rushed in the high-risk efforts, some resulting in injuries of foreign nationals until US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday announced the second ceasefire.

“Following intense negotiations, the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] and RSF have agreed to implement and uphold a 72-hour nationwide ceasefire starting midnight, April 24. We welcome their commitment to work with partners and stakeholders for permanent cessation of hostilities and humanitarian arrangements,” Blinken said via his official Twitter account.

Read also: Foreign states rush high-risk Sudan evacuation, some foreign citizens hurt

The RSF responded also through Twitter that they will “commit to the 72-hour truce,” though without noting that the military had “violated the ceasefire by continuing to attack Khartoum by planes.”

“The ceasefire aims to establish humanitarian corridors, allowing citizens and residents to access essential resources, healthcare and safe zones, while also evacuating diplomatic missions,” it wrote.

United Nations agencies reported that so far at least 427 casualties have been recorded, with 3,700 wounded from the conflict as hospitals in Khartoum reached their fullest capacity. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that over 4,000 people have fled Sudan in foreign-organized evacuations starting from Saturday.

In mid-April, Sudan’s military and the RSF started throwing accusations that the other was attacking their bases in Khartoum. Both armed groups had been in conflict for months despite being close allies previously, as the RSF’s growing influence had started to disturb the military.

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