In a post on Twitter, the foreign ministry said the journey across the Red Sea is expected to take at least 12 hours, after an “arduous 30-hour journey by land” beginning from Khartoum.

The ministry also expressed its “utmost and sincere appreciation” to the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for making the evacuation a success.

It said Malaysia also assisted nationals from Cambodia, Palestine, the Philippines, Singapore, Sudan, Thailand and the US to safely leave Sudan under the close supervision of the Malaysian evacuation operation.

Violence broke out in the capital and across Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The clashes have killed more than 460 people, wounded thousands and threatened a descent into wider turmoil in the northeast African country, already one of the world’s poorest.