THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it expects more Filipinos fleeing the conflict between the military and paramilitary units in Sudan to be repatriated this week.
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo Jose de Vega said 340 Filipinos earlier allowed by Egyptian authorities to enter the border between Egypt and Sudan are already in Cairo waiting for their repatriation flights to Manila.
He said over 600 Filipinos have already fled Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city, and center of the heaviest fighting between Army troops loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“I think we can say that everybody who wanted to leave Khartoum has left Khartoum.
Eventually, there may be a few more coming in the next few days,” De Vega told ABS CBN News Channel Monday.
The DFA earlier said there could be at least 700 Filipinos in Sudan, including undocumented workers.
No Filipino fatality has been reported in nearly three weeks of heavy clashes between the opposing sides, punctuated by short ceasefires.
De Vega said 15 more Filipinos are expected to arrive in Manila on Monday night.
Last Saturday, the first batch of Filipinos repatriated arrived in Manila. Of the 17, the DFA said eight are hotel workers in Sudan.
De Vega said the DFA has spent $1 million for the evacuation, including renting buses to ferry Pinoys in Egypt, hotel accommodations, and repatriation flights to Manila.
The DFA earlier raised alert level 3 in Sudan, which calls for the voluntary evacuation of all Filipinos there.
DFA Assistant Secretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Paul Cortes said of the 616 Filipinos who were evacuated from Khartoum, 414 were already in Egypt, while others were either at the Sudan-Egypt border or at the Port Sudan bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
