President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime says Nigerians stranded in Sudan will be evacuated by road.
“Obviously, what you need in a situation like this is a place where everybody can congregate before you start moving them out because the airports, as you pointed out in your report, it is out of commission. The only viable way out is by road,” said foreign minister Geoffrey Onyeama Sunday on Channels TV.
Earlier, the Nigerian embassy in Khartoum had asked Nigerians, particularly students in Sudan, to “remain indoors” as the bloody fight between rival military forces rages.
The embassy, in a statement signed by H.Y. Garko for chargé d’affaires on Sunday, said it was still dangerous to embark on a journey towards the borders of Sudan without security clearance from the country’s authorities.
No fewer than 4000 Nigerians are trapped in Sudan as the battle rages between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Since last weekend, the fight between the two rival forces loyal to Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF, has affected Khartoum and other strategic areas in the country.
Mr Onyeama noted that those stranded in the country could not be evacuated by air even though some nationals were evacuated by air and the United Nations conducted an evacuation by road, and Saudi Arabia used the waterways.
“But of course, it is not totally safe, so you are going to require the government to provide some security and a safe corridor out. We have been given the cost estimate and all the details. They gave us a figure of 5,500 who are ready for evacuation,” the Nigerian minister explained.
Since the violence broke out, France, Italy, Turkey, and the United States have begun evacuating their citizens from Sudan.
