GOVERNMENT has started the process of repatriating Zimbabweans that have been caught up in the Sudanese armed conflict which has resulted in the death of over 413 civilians and maimed 3 551 others.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary reached a boiling point on April 15.
While an estimated 100 Zimbabweans resident in Sudan are reported to be safe, some have indicated their desire to be repatriated, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade which is also closely following the conflict.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is closely following the evolving conflict in Sudan which has put our nationals’ resident in that country in fear and distress. Over the past few weeks since the conflict broke out, the Ministry undertook a comprehensive exercise to reach out to all Zimbabwean nationals in Sudan to establish their current situations and to ascertain their immediate needs, including the possibility of evacuation from Sudan. An estimated 100 Zimbabweans residents in Sudan have reported safe but some have indicated their desire to be repatriated from Sudan,” said the Ministry spokesperson Mr Livit Mugejo.
He said buses have since been secured for the evacuation mission that will take the Zimbabwean nationals to the Port of Sudan in a United Nations convoy after airports were closed.
“The Ministry has managed to secure buses to evacuate our nationals to the Port of Sudan in the UN convoy. The closure of airports has affected the ability of the Ministry to urgently assist with the repatriation of Zimbabweans in fulfilment of its mandate of protecting the interests and safety of Zimbabwean nationals abroad. A contingency fund has already been disbursed to the Embassy to facilitate the evacuation of our nationals. The Ministry continues to engage the Sudanese Government to ensure that Zimbabweans, who want to leave the country, are able to safely return home,” said Mr Mugejo.
A number of countries have in the past days been evacuating their nationals as the conflict rages on, amid worrisome fears of a full-blown civil war in the heavily populated nation of 45 million people.
Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional Government and declared a state of emergency.
According to international news outlets, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned a session of the U.N. Security Council in New York that the violence “risks a catastrophic conflagration within Sudan that could engulf the whole region and beyond”.
He urged the 15 Council members to use their clout to end the violence and return Sudan to the path of democratic transition. – The Chronicle
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