Sudan crisis: Egypt finally opens border for fleeing Nigerians

Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s direct intervention, the Egyptian border has opened for Nigerians fleeing war-ravaged Sudan to be airlifted by the Air Force back to the country.

This was disclosed by the chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Monday, while giving an update on the Sudan crisis.

Dabiri-Erewa said it took the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari for the North African country’s border to open for Nigerians.

“UPDATE: With the intervention of President Buhari, Egypt has finally opened its border to Nigerians fleeing Sudan. With an Airforce plane already on the ground in Aswan, Egypt, the processing of the first set of evacuees will begin, Dabiri-Erewa wrote.

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Blueprint reported that the first set of 637 Nigerian students evacuated from Sudan were stranded at the Egyptian border with the war-torn country.

Speaking on the incident on Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the Egyptian authorities had not opened its border with Sudan for the students three days after their arrival.

Onyeama said the Egyptian authorities had insisted on clearing all the 637 Nigerians before they could be allowed entry into their country.

He explained that the federal government might move the students to Port Sudan for evacuation if Egypt delayed further.

Bus catches fire

Meanwhile, one of the buses conveying stranded Nigerians from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, to Port Sudan where they would move into Saudi Arabia, caught fire in the early hours of Monday.

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Twenty-six buses conveying the stranded Nigerians left Al Razi around 12a.m on Monday for Port Sudan.

“One of the buses conveying some 50 Nigerian students from Sudan with a tag number (Katsina 1) heading to Port Sudan as part of the second batch of FGN evacuation got damaged due to excessive heat from one of the vehicle’s tyres.

“Dr Hashim Idris Na’Allah, the chairman of the Nigerian Elders’ Forum in Sudan, was one of the passengers in the said bus, which contained a total of 50 students (49 males, 1 female).

“The incident happened around 2:30 a.m Sudan time.

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“The driver stopped the bus near an RSF checkpoint, just before the tire exploded causing a fire to start.

“All the passengers escaped unhurt.

“Forty out of the 50 passengers were later distributed to the other buses evacuating the students, while the remaining passengers spent the night where the incident happened alongside the driver at the RSF checkpoint.

“The students said the RSF really did their best to help the passengers and offered them cups of tea in the morning before they left,” Sani Aliyu who is in Sudan disclosed.

The stranded Nigerians have since continued their journey to Port Sudan. (Blueprint)