SOME 17 Filipinos have returned to the country from Sudan amid the ongoing armed conflict there, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
In a statement, the DFA said the 17 which includes eight overseas workers and an infant were the first batch of government-assisted Filipino evacuees.
They arrived in Manila on Saturday afternoon from Athens, Greece and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Eight of them were hotel workers in Sudan who boarded a military evacuation flight after successful representations made with the Greek government by the Philippine Embassy in Athens.
The other evacuees fled Khartoum via Port Sudan where they boarded a C130 plane of the Saudi Royal Air Force bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“The OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) provided the repatriation tickets for eight of the evacuees who are overseas Filipino workers, while the consulate arranged for the flight of the other evacuee who is a student in Sudan,” the DFA said.
DFA secretary Enrique Manalo together with officials of the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and OWWA welcomed the arriving Filipinos.
Manalo ensured that the Philippine government is working round-the-clock to assist the Filipinos who have left Sudan.
He said that teams led by the DFA and including personnel from DMW, OWWA, Department of National Defense were on the ground to facilitate the evacuation efforts.
The DFA said a total of 610 Filipinos have evacuated from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, with 391 having crossed to the Egyptian side of the border in buses chartered by the Philippine Embassy in Cairo and the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Sudan.
Another 45 overseas Filipinos are expected to be evacuated by sea to Saudi Arabia, where the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah has also been providing the necessary support.
“The Embassy is currently arranging for their temporary visas and repatriation flights to the Philippines, while DMW and OWWA are preparing for shelter and other welfare assistance during transit,” the DFA said. (SunStar Philippines)