The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced that they have evacuated 91 citizens from Sudan following a repatriation mission which included 66 nationals from other countries including the Philippines.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the rescue mission involved several nationals of brotherly and friendly countries.
They are now preparing for their flights back home.
The group of nationals were from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada and Burkina Faso.
“The Kingdom worked to provide all the necessary needs of foreign nationals in preparation for their departure to their countries,” the ministry said.
“In the implementation of the directives of the Kingdom’s Leadership, we are pleased to announce the safe arrival of the evacuated citizens of the Kingdom from Sudan and several nationals of brotherly & friendly countries, including diplomats & international officials,” the foreign ministry added.
The Saudi Royal Navy facilitated the repatriation mission.
No details were provided on how many Filipinos were rescued by Saudi officials.
President Bongbong Marcos has addressed the challenges of evacuating Filipinos from Sudan following the clashes in the Middle Eastern country.
“Malaking problema natin sa in Sudan. We have about 300 people in Sudan. Unfortunately, none of the airports are functioning. They are still under fire. Also, we cannot ascertain a secure land route for them to leave,” the President said in a video statement.
“It is a long road from Khartoum to Cairo which is where our embassy is, that is in charge also of Khartoum and Sudan. But we are already preparing the assets that might be involved. We are just waiting to get better information as to whether or not it will be safe to bring our evacuees out of Khartoum, perhaps into Cairo,” he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs will start evacuating Filipinos from Sudan amid the rising conflict there.
In an interview with DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega, he said repatriation and evacuation of Filipinos from Sudan will be challenging since the airport there was closed due to the fighting of Sudanese Armed Forces at Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“For the repatriation, we already have authorization given proper conditions. It should be land evacuation, not by plane, because the airport is not operational. We hope it can be done next week,” De Vega said.
