BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and GERARD NAVAL
OVERSEAS Filipino workers and their families numbering 409 have been evacuated from war-torn Sudan during a three-day ceasefire and are now staying in Egypt, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said yesterday.
The ceasefire agreed on by the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces was due to expire late on Thursday. The army was reported to have expressed willingness to extend the ceasefire which was being undermined by battles at Khartoum’s outskirts on Wednesday.
The DMW, in a report to Malacañang, said the evacuated Filipinos include 370 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their family members, and 15 students who were left in Khartoum on April 26.
Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople, in a radio interview from Egypt, said not all OFWs in Sudan are looking to return home as some just want to be relocated.
“There were 777 Filipinos that sent their information to the Philippine Embassy. Out of that number, about 400 are seeking assistance,” she said.
“Some of them are seeking to be relocated, not for repatriation,” she added.
Ople said some OFWs are also being taken care of by their employers.
“There are some who were brought to other borders near the Port of Sudan by their employers and were told to stay there until it is already safe to go back to Khartoum,” she said.
Ople gave the assurance that all OFWs who will be crossing the borders will be taken care of by the Philippine government, particularly their “transportation, accommodation, and food.”
The Department of Foreign said there could be at least 700 Filipinos in Sudan, including undocumented ones.
The DFA on Wednesday night raised “Alert Level 3” which calls for voluntary evacuation due to the ongoing clashes between the military and paramilitary units.
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo Jose de Vega said 100 more Filipinos have requested repatriation. It is on top of the 350 Filipinos who left Khartoum for Egypt on board seven buses rented by the Philippine Embassy in Cairo.
The embassy in Cairo headed by Ambassador Ezzedin Tago also exercises jurisdiction over Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.
“We initially expected 150.Then it became 300. Right now, more than 400,” De Vega said.
Aside from the 350 heading to the Egyptian border, De Vega said 51 Filipinos were also evacuated from Sudan the other day.
The 51 were received by Tago and the embassy team Wednesday.
A group of 23 more Filipinos were also transported by their employers to the border, the DFA said.
ALERT LEVEL 3
The embassy said Alert Level 3 has been raised for the whole of Sudan due to the ongoing armed conflict between Army troops loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The clashes has reportedly left over 500 dead, with foreign nationals scrambling to leave the country.
The crisis also sent a growing number of refugees to Sudan’s neighboring countries, particularly Chad and South Sudan.
“The public is informed that Alert Level 3 (Voluntary Repatriation Evacuation) has been raised for the whole of the Sudan region due to the ongoing political situation in the country,” the embassy said.
“In this regard, the public is assured that the Philippine Embassy in Cairo is continuously monitoring the situation while providing repatriation assistance to Filipinos in Sudan,” the embassy added.
EGYPTIAN ASSISTANCE
To address the problems faced by Filipinos trying to cross the Egyptian border and to fast-track their evacuation, the embassy in Cairo has reached out to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to expedite the processing of visas of Filipinos fleeing Sudan and entering Egypt, according to DFA Assistant Secretary for Migrant Workers Paul Cortes.
Earlier, De Vega said Egyptian authorities are strict in allowing people to enter the country and most of the fleeing Filipinos either have expired passports, do not have passports at all, or have lost theirs while fleeing Sudan.
“Ambassador Tago has already talked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Egyptian Foreign Minister regarding the condition of our countrymen waiting for their entry visas to Egypt,” Cortes said in Filipino in an interview with CNN Philippines.
“Hopefully, in the next few hours ay mapagbigyan na itong mga kababayan natin (our countrymen will be granted entry),” he added.
TRANSPORTATION
Cortes appealed for understanding, explaining that Filipinos are not the only ones scrambling to get out of Sudan.
He said other foreign nationals are also fleeing the country, resulting in the scarcity of transportation as well as the increase in rental prices for buses to ferry them to the border.
Earlier, the embassy advised Filipinos seeking government evacuation from Khartoum to wait for its advice on the availability of transportation.
It added that those who will travel on their own or with their employers to Wadi Halfa in the Sudan-Egypt border should inform the embassy in advance by message or email, in order to facilitate entry into Egypt.
The embassy also reminded all Filipinos to inform it if they will choose to evacuate through the Port of Sudan.
It said Filipinos may reach out to the embassy through the following communications channel: WhatsApp/Mobile: (+20) 122 743 6472 Facebook/Messenger: PHinEgypt, and email at cairo.pe@dfa.gov.ph. — With Ashzel Hachero
