…working to negotiate land corridor route
The Federal Government is working to negotiate a land corridor through neighbouring countries for the rescue of Nigerians trapped in an armed conflict in Sudan.
To this end the Federal Government has set up a committee which is considering passage for Nigerians through negotiated safe land corridors.
According the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the committee consists of professional emergency responders and search and rescue experts.
This is aside high level diplomatic discussions with other stakeholders.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) however says government needs to move fast to reduce the chances of death or injury to countrymen and women.
The consideration of a land corridor rescue option came into focus after Nigerian authorities observed that airlifting trapped citizens would be risky because the Khartoum Airport in the Sudanese capital is a hotbed of the fighting in that country.
An estimated seven million Nigerians are resident in Sudan. The vast majority are engaged in farming, while a handful work for that country’s government.
Sudan is also a destination for young Nigerians seeking opportunities for work and study. Nigerian footballers play in the Sudanese league to get on the radar of European scouts and hope to ultimately move to Europe.
The NLC further suggests that in the interim, “ government work out an arrangement with the international community to create a safe haven for all foreign nationals in the country (Sudan) to serve as a buffer to all foreign nationals against the vagaries of the war while the peace effort is being made or other safer methods of evacuation are developed.”
Joe Ajaero, President of the NLC made these suggestions in a statement on Saturday.
Sudan is witnessing hostilities between two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a tweet on Friday said “while @nemanigeria and the Nigerian Mission in Sudan have put in place necessary arrangements, any flight now is gravely risky. Airlines on ground at the airport were all burnt today, there is a curfew in place and no flights can operate.”
Dabiri however said humanitarian groups were making efforts to distribute food, water and medicals, while all efforts are being put in place to get the warring parties to ceasefire.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our citizens there, and the whole country,” she added.
One week after fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), over 300 people have died and at least 3,200 people injured.
There have been at least four failed attempts to reach a ceasefire agreement between the warring parties and open a humanitarian corridor.
Both the army and RSF on Friday agreed to a ceasefire for the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. However, explosions and gunfire rang out across Khartoum on Saturday.
