Nigerian Students can’t leave Sudan because of curfew, risks – FG

Key highlights:

• Over 400 were killed in fighting that broke out in Sudan between 2 rival military factions.
• The Nigerian Mission in Sudan and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have put in place the necessary arrangements.
• There is a curfew in place and no flights can operate.

Nigerian students stuck in the fighting in Sudan may have to wait a little bit longer, according to the Nigerian Government.

They added that airlines at the airport were burnt to the ground on Friday, and that flights are risky.

This was revealed in a statement update by Abike Dabiri, Chairman of the  Nigerians in Diaspora Commission.

Necessary Arrangements

Dabiri revealed that the fighting in Sudan which has claimed the lives of 400 people so far has forced the closure of airlines, however the Nigerian Mission in Sudan and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have put in place necessary arrangements, she said:

• “While the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)and the Nigerian Mission in Sudan have put in place necessary arrangements, any flight now is gravely risky.
• “ Airlines on the ground at the airport were all burnt today, there is a curfew in place and no flights can operate.”

Dabiri added that Humanitarian groups are making efforts to distribute food, water, and medicals, while all efforts are being put in place to hopefully get the warring parties to ceasefire.

• “ Our thoughts and prayers are with our citizens there, and the whole country.”

Backstory

The National Association of Nigerian Students in Sudan, earlier this week called on the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) for a possible evacuation from Sudan after fighting broke out.

NIDCOM said that the call was contained in a letter by the students to the commission, urging that I had received the letter of solicitation for possible evacuation, especially those in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Dabiri-Erewa said that the escalation of hostilities between the Sudanese Army and Paramilitary group-Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was worrisome and assured that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in charge of emergency evacuations, was consulting with the Nigerian mission in Sudan and other relevant agencies.

Fighting

According to media reports, more than 400 people have been killed, including at least four UN aid workers, and more than 3,500 injured and up to 20,000, refugees have also crossed into Chad, with much of Sudan’s healthcare system out of order.

Financial Times says the fighting is a power struggle between the army, headed by de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemeti, Sudan’s vice-president and commander of the Rapid Support Forces.