PHL gov’t to evacuate Filipinos in Sudan via Egypt
THE PHILIPPINE government is preparing to evacuate its citizens caught in the hostilities in Sudan with land transport to Egypt being organized, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
“Within the next 24 hours, we will dispatch evacuation buses going to Egypt for our countrymen,” DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo Jose A. de Vega told a televised briefing in Filipino.
He said there were no injured Filipinos reported amid the armed conflict between the Sudanese military and a paramilitary group.
Over 300 Filipinos living in Sudan have contacted the Philippine Consulate in Khartoum, with 156 having immigration documents, the envoy said.
There are also three Filipina airline workers who had been in the conflict areas.
Mr. De Vega said the government will bear all evacuation expenses and repatriated Filipinos will not be allowed to return to Sudan until the armed conflict subsides.
He added that overseas Filipino workers there without valid passports must contact the Philippine Embassy in Cairo to request an accommodation from the Egyptian government.
“Even if they do not have a valid passport, they need something that will show their identity such as other IDs or photocopies of their passport,” the DFA said.
The war in Sudan is between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which started on April 8 in the capital city of Khartoum and neighboring Obdurman. — John Victor D. Ordoñez