DFA: Sudan evacuees start arriving next week

Department of Foreign Affairs (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

The Filipinos evacuated from Sudan over the past few days may begin arriving in the country by next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday as the military infighting in the African nation continued.

“I am confident that next week—I wouldn’t say Monday, but surely next week—we’ll be receiving the first group of Filipino repatriates,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega assured the relatives of the evacuees in a television interview.

De Vega also apologized for the inconsistent data reported in local media because things are happening fast in Sudan and reports are coming from several sources in different places and time periods.

“Developments are happening quite fast. Figures are changing based on what is happening on the ground. May we request some understanding if sometimes figures vary [or] don’t tally,” DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza said.

The DFA assured the public, however, that there have been no Filipinos killed or injured because of the conflict in Sudan and the embassy has already evacuated a total of 496 Filipinos from Khartoum, the center of the conflict, as of Friday.

According to the DFA, there were about 750 Filipinos in Sudan before hostilities broke out on April 15, but some Filipinos have already been evacuated by their employers, joined the extraction missions of other countries, or left Sudan on their own.

Dozens of Filipinos joined the evacuation missions provided by Saudi Arabia and Greece and the Philippine Embassies in both countries are already attending to their repatriation, De Vega said.

“Coordination with the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Greece on the safe passage of Filipino evacuees is continuing through the respective Philippine Embassies,” the DFA said.

Once they have reached Philippine embassies, they will be repatriated via commercial flights.

Continued fighting

De Vega said the exodus from the war zone has affected the processing of evacuees’ papers and now takes days compared to the usual wait of several hours.

There has been no improvement in the Sudan conflict and fighting continued although the two warring factions agreed to extend an earlier 72-hour ceasefire.

There have been multiple truce efforts since fighting erupted between Sudan’s army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary commanded by his deputy-turned-rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. All have failed.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Sudanese fighter jets pounded paramilitary positions in Khartoum while deadly fighting and looting flared in Darfur.

At least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 wounded in the fighting, according to health ministry figures, although the real death toll is likely much higher.

Egypt said on Thursday that at least 14,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed the border since fighting erupted, as well as 2,000 people from 50 other countries.

At least 20,000 people have escaped into Chad, 4,000 into South Sudan, 3,500 into Ethiopia, and 3,000 into the Central African Republic, according to the UN, which has warned if fighting continues as many as 270,000 people could flee. —WITH A REPORT FROM AFP

READ: Sudan protest calls for military coup as political crisis deepens