The first batch of 17 Filipinos from Sudan arrived in Manila on Saturday, April 29th. These Filipinos were rescued from the conflict in the African country and were welcomed by officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
Eight of the rescued Filipinos were hotel workers in Sudan who boarded a military evacuation flight after the Philippine embassy in Athens communicated with the Greek government. The group was received in Athens on Friday, April 28th, and immediately arranged to fly back to the Philippines.
The other nine Filipinos, including an infant, fled from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, via Port Sudan and boarded a C130 plane of the Saudi Royal Air Force bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah received the group on Thursday, April 27th.
A total of 610 Filipinos had left Khartoum, 391 of whom crossed the Egyptian side of the border using buses chartered by the Philippine embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Sudan. The embassies are arranging the evacuees’ temporary visas and repatriation flights, while the DMW and OWWA are preparing shelter and welfare assistance for them.
The DFA stated that another 45 Filipinos are expected to be evacuated by sea from Sudan to Saudi Arabia.
Sudan’s paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), seized the presidential palace and the Khartoum airport on April 15th in an apparent coup attempt. At the height of the conflict, the RSF accused the Sudan army of carrying out a plot by loyalists of ousted former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The conflict has killed at least 459 people and injured more than 4,000 according to the World Health Organization.
The DMW announced that the government is set to repatriate at least 340 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Sudan in the coming days. A contingent of the migrant workers agency, including a group from the Philippine embassy in Cairo, is assisting Filipinos who have safely evacuated from the war-affected African country.
DMW Secretary Susan Oplen flew to Egypt to lead the distribution of welfare assistance to the evacuated OFWs.
The DFA is urging Filipinos still in Sudan to contact the Philippine embassy in Cairo or the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Khartoum. The DFA is also advising all Filipinos to register with the embassy or consulate in their host country, as this will allow them to be notified of any emergencies and to avail themselves of any assistance provided by the embassy or consulate.