Tbilisi working “intensively” with partners to evacuate citizens from Sudan - Deputy FM
Aleksandre Khvtisiashvili, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, on Monday commented on stranded Georgian citizens in Sudan. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office
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Aleksandre Khvtisiashvili, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, on Monday said about 30 Georgian citizens remained in Sudan amid a violent tussle for power between the country’s military and a paramilitary group, with the Georgian Government working “intensively” with its partners to evacuate them.
Speaking to the media, the official stressed no sides involved in the conflict had taken control of the situation so far, which hampered work for establishing a humanitarian corridor for evacuations.
He noted the Georgian nationals stranded in the north-east African nation had refrained from going out to avoid the clashes that have left close to 100 individuals dead and hundreds injured since Saturday.
We are waiting for the situation to calm down to speak to any sides [about the humanitarian corridor]. At this moment such talks are impossible due to ongoing clashes”, Khvtisiahsvili said.
He also noted his office had been in “close coordination” both with the United Nations and Georgia’s foreign partners to ensure evacuation of the citizens and their “safe return” to the country.
Since the October 2021 coup, Sudan has been run by a council of generals led by two military commanders who have recently had disagreements on the country’s direction and the proposed move towards civilian rule.
Clashes between the country’s military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group first erupted on Saturday, after the breaking of a UN-brokered temporary humanitarian ceasefire.
The Georgian Embassy in Turkey is in contact with the Georgian citizens in Sudan and their family members amid the fighting in the country between the army and a paramilitary group, the Georgian foreign office said on Monday.
Thirty-three employees of two Tbilisi-based airlines, Geo Sky and Myway, have been trapped in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum amid violent clashes for power between rival factions that have left at least 185 dead and 1,800 injured in the country since Saturday.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Friday said the Government, “as promised” to the country’s citizens, continued working on a “daily basis” to evacuate its citizens “on time” from Sudan amid a violent tussle for power between the country’s military and a paramilitary group.
Georgian citizens in Sudan have been transferred to a safer location away from the capital Khartoum, where fierce fighting for power continues between the country’s regular army and a powerful paramilitary force, the Georgian foreign office said on Sunday.
Georgian citizens in Sudan have been transferred to a neutral zone on the country’s border with Egypt border as the first phase of their evacuation from the conflict-stricken state has concluded, Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandre Khvtisiashvili said on Tuesday.