The belated evacuation of Nigerians trapped in war-torn Sudan is trailed by undue politics as the Nigerian government says it is evacuating the citizens with 40 buses for $1.2 million
The Nigerian authorities have insisted that citizens who are trapped in war-torn Sudan must identify their state of origin and region of the country they hail from before boarding the buses to the Egyptian border.
The minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Wednesday, April 26 that the Nigerians are being moved in the buses to the Egyptian border from where they are expected to be airlifted to Nigeria.
“The sum of $1.2 million is what we’re being charged for all the 40 buses,” he said.
“We have huge transporter luxury buses made available to us to transport to the Egyptian border.
“Of course you know, because of the risks involved and so many other things, a lot of people are going to also take advantage, you’re going to hike up the price.
“We saw that the French convoy was attacked and so forth. It was difficult procuring these buses.
“But we had to do it because, you know, Nigerian lives matter to us.”
The Nigerian government has assured that no Nigerian has been killed in the Sudan crisis.
The minister of state for foreign affairs, Zubairu Dada, said Nigeria secured 72-hour permission from Sudan for the evacuation which is being done in batches.
Sudan has been embroiled in crisis since 15 April when fighting broke out between the country’s Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), both led by former allies General Abdel al-Burhan and General Mohamed Dagalo respectively.
The violent clashes have killed over 400 people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The death toll from the crisis in Sudan climbed over 450, a World Health Organization official said Tuesday, citing the war-torn nation’s health ministry, as a tense 72-hour ceasefire declared late Monday, April 24 evening appeared to hold. The fragile ceasefire quieted more than a week of intense fighting between two well-armed factions led by rival commanders.
The clashes in Sudan are between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Until recently, the leaders of the two forces were allies. They worked together in 2019 to overthrow Sudan’s brutal dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled over the country for three decades, sweeping to power as thousands of people took to the streets in a popular uprising against al-Bashir.
After that coup, a power-sharing government was formed, made up of civilian and military groups. The plan was for it to run Sudan for a few years and oversee a transition to a completely civilian-run government.
In 2021, al-Burhan, who had become chief of the power-sharing council, dissolved it, declaring he would instead hold elections in 2023.
The current fighting broke out between the army and the RSF as a result of negotiations breaking down over integrating the two forces ahead of the intended restoration of civilian rule. There was disagreement over which general would be subordinate to the other, and how quickly the RSF would be incorporated into the Sudanese military.
Heavy fighting broke out across the country on April 8, with Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum and neighboring Obdurman being turned into battlefields.
Smoke rises during clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan, April 19, 2023. Ahmed Satti/Anadolu Agency/Getty
