100 Malawians trapped in Sudan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is processing the repatriation of about 100 Malawians, mostly students, who have registered to be rescued from Sudan following the ongoing civil war in that country.
The ministry’s spokesperson John Kabaghe in an interview yesterday said the Malawi Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, which is coordinating the registration, estimates that an additional 30 Malawians may still be in Sudan, but in places not affected by the conflict.
He said: “The ministry’s main focus on the welfare of the Malawians is on securing their safety.
“The ministry is, therefore, working through Malawi embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, to establish a safe passage for evacuation by road since air transport is largely restricted in the conflict zone.”
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the ministry has called on Malawians currently in Sudan to ensure they are registered with the Malawi Embassy in Cairo which is accredited to Khartoum on a non-residential basis.
Several countries have evacuated their diplomats and citizens from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, as fierce fighting continues to rage.
The United States of America and the United Kingdom announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country.
BBC quoted US authorities as having said they had airlifted less than 100 people with three Chinook helicopters on Sunday morning in a “fast and clean” operation.
The US embassy in Khartoum is now closed and a tweet on its official feed says it is not safe enough for the government to evacuate private US citizens.
The UK government managed to airlift British diplomats and their families out of the country in what was described as a “complex and rapid” operation.
France, Germany, Italy and Spain followed suit on Sunday and yesterday to evacuate their diplomats and other nationals.
More than 1 000 European Union (EU) citizens had been taken out of Sudan, according to an update from the EU’s foreign policy chief yesterday morning.
A vicious power struggle between the regular army and a powerful paramilitary force has led to violence across Sudan for more than a week.
The fighting has so far killed more than 400 people and injured more than 3 700. But the death toll is believed to be much higher as people are struggling to get healthcare, as most of the city’s hospitals have been forced to close by the fighting.
The fighting in Sudan began on April 15 2023 with attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on key government sites.
Along with Khartoum, the western region of Darfur, where the RSF first emerged, has also been badly affected by the fighting.
The United Nations projects that up to 20 000 people have fled the conflict.
