Sudan: 72 Irish citizens evacuated, Tánaiste confirms

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that 72 Irish citizens and their family members have now been evacuated from Sudan to Djibouti and Jordan.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said they are aware of more than 100 Irish citizens still in Sudan.

The Tánaiste added that the Government’s teams in Nairobi, Djibouti and Dublin are “continuing to work intensively to secure further evacuations”.

The department spokesperson said that officials in Dublin and Nairobi are leading the evacuation effort and continue to support citizens and their families in Sudan.

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They added that the Government has approved the deployment of an Emergency Civil Assistance Team (ECAT) mission, led by department personnel, and supported by up to 12 Defence Forces personnel.

“The ECAT/consular team is based in Djibouti. It is working with those evacuated through Djibouti, helping to arrange accommodation when needed and supporting and advising on onward arrangements, including the logistical elements of travel to Ireland if they choose,” said the spokesperson.

“Whether, and when, the ECAT will deploy to Sudan will depend on operational and security criteria. The duration of the mission will be dependent on the progress that can be made, the security situation on the ground and decisions on extraction by partners.

“The security of the team, and of our citizens and their family members, is paramount. Speculation by the media, or on social media, on the operational details is unhelpful,” the spokesperson added.

This comes after about 50 people, including a number of Irish citizens, were left outside of the French embassy in Khartoum on Sunday.

Speaking on the Claire Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, Dr Aia Mohamed, whose father was one of the Irish citizens who were evacuated from the French embassy on Sunday, said that the Department of Foreign Affairs was not working to help people get from Djibouti back to Ireland.

The department said on Monday that they were helping Irish citizens with their travel back to Ireland following their evacuation.

Dr Mohamed contradicted this, however, saying that she had Booking.com open to book her father a flight and hotel for his travels back.

“We have to remember that, as we work to bring our citizens and their dependents safely back to Ireland, 45 million Sudanese civilians remain in Sudan,” added the department spokesperson.

“The fighting in Khartoum is rapidly causing a humanitarian catastrophe; and this is in addition to an already very fragile humanitarian situation in Sudan, with 12 million people suffering from acute food insecurity and millions dependent on humanitarian aid.”

The spokesperson also said that the department, and its Embassy in Kenya, will remain in contact with everyone who has registered with them and that citizens should follow the Embassy of Ireland in Kenya on Twitter (@IrlEmbKenya) for updated advice.

The Embassy’s out-of-hours consular assistance phone line can be contacted at +254 716 353 999, and the Department of Foreign Affairs can be contacted at +353 1 408 2000.