Gift of the Givers faces challenges in evacuating SA nationals from Sudan

The Gift of the Givers has confirmed that it faced significant challenges in assisting South Africans and embassy staff who have been trapped in Sudan since last week due to clashes between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary force.

Founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman says they arranged for two buses, which were financed by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation – and managed to pick up 7 Angolans and 38 South Africans from Khartoum.

Sooliman explains the challenges experienced during this operation.

“It took quite some time to be finally out, so from the first lot of two busses every South African is out, it’s now in Egypt. There are another 11 stuck in Port Sudan, they’ve been there for two or three days. They’ve been waiting for the ferry to take them across but there are two problems. One is the Saudi authorities have to agree to put them on their ferry because they require again documents and entry visas and the Sudanese guys sort of give you exit visas to leave their territory. So if everything goes well and the 8 can get through by tomorrow. Then I can see no reason why on the next day, on Friday they can’t come home.”

Gift of the Givers’ effort to evacuate South Africans from volatile Sudan: Dr Imtiaz Sooliman

Safe evacuation

Earlier, the South African government said it is still working hard to ensure the safe evacuation of its citizens, as well as those from the SADC region and other countries.

The Department of International Relations and Corporation (DIRCO) said facilitating travel documents for those who had left without passports delayed entry into Egypt and other countries. It praised the cooperation of Egypt’s and Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministries, who ensured the entry of people without the necessary documents for normal and regular entry into their respective countries, making this operation possible.

The department says the non-governmental organisation, Gift of the Givers played a key role in assisting to evacuate citizens.

South African citizens are yet to arrive back home following their departure from Sudan.