THE repatriation of Filipinos in strife-torn Sudan is already ongoing, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said on Monday, April 24, 2023.
In a Laging Handa public briefing, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said three Filipinos, who were employees of Saudia Airlines, were already evacuated through the help of their employers and the Saudi Arabian government.
“Saudia Airlines was stranded in Khartoum (Sudan’s capital), and they were brought by bus by their employers to Port Sudan where they were fetched by a military vessel provided by the Saudi Arabian government. From there, they will be taken to Jeddah where our team will meet them,” said De Vega.
“We thank the Saudi Arabia government, and we are also appealing to them that for our future repatriation, maybe we can board their military vessel... and it looks like they are open to the idea,” he added.
De Vega said the Philippine government had already rented a bus that will bring fleeing Filipinos to southern Egypt, then to the Aswan International Airport where they will board a flight going to Cairo, then to the Philippines.
He said evacuation from Sudan can only be done via land travel since the airports in its capital are not functioning due to the ongoing conflict, which erupted between two generals, the army chief and his former deputy, who seized power following the 2021 coup.
De Vega said the evacuation cost will be shouldered by the National Government.
“Initially, we had 300 Filipinos in Sudan [in our registry]. Since we called on them to reach out to the embassy so we can help them, it went up to 300, then now, those registered have already increased to 696,” he said.
“There are few who are household workers, but most of the Filipinos here have high paying jobs such as teachers, engineers. They are paid well because of the dangers here,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)