After four days of arriving at the Sudan-Egypt border, Nigerian evacuees fleeing the crisis in Sudan have now been granted access to Egypt for onward transfer to Nigeria.
“The border has just been opened, (with stringent conditions) after President Buhari’s intervention with the Egyptian President. So, the processing of evacuees by the Nigerian Embassy in Egypt will begin,” Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) announced in a tweet.
The evacuees had been unable to get into Egypt owing to logistics and diplomatic issues since last Thursday.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the conditions upon which the entrance was granted include details and the schedule of the aircraft conveying them to Nigeria and the capacity of the aircraft.
This newspaper also gathered that the government of Egypt demanded a pledge that once Nigerians depart the border, they will be conveyed directly to the designated airport.
Other conditions include a comprehensive list of the evacuees, with passport numbers; valid travel documents (Passport or ETC); the presence of Nigerian government officials at the points of embarkation and standby buses that will immediately convey them to the airport.
Before the delay at the Egyptian border, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had announced that 1,600 evacuees were expected to arrive in Nigeria last Friday.
All the evacuees will be airlifted from Egypt directly to Nigeria.
The government had said the airlift could not be done from Sudan to the violence in that country.
Officially, there are about 5,500 Nigerian students who are expected to arrive from Sudan in the evacuation that commenced on Wednesday.
Over 400 people have been killed in Sudan due to fighting between the army and paramilitary RSF, both headed by army generals.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
