Kenyan Government on Monday, April 24, sent a Kenya Airforce plane to evacuate Kenyans who had been stuck in war-torn Sudan.
According to Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary (CS) Alfred Mutua, the plane will airlift 18 students to Kenya.
The students had already been safely evacuated from Sudan by road and they will be picked up from South Sudan on their journey home.
“We have a Kenya Airforce aircraft ready for a group of 18 students who are currently travelling by road to the South Sudan border. They will be airlifted to Nairobi,” the CS announced.Mutua added that this was part of a three-tier evacuation process that was being conducted by the Kenyan Government.
“We have already facilitated 29 Kenyan students to cross the border to Ethiopia.
“They are on their way to Gondor where they will fly to Addis Ababa and then to Nairobi,” Mutua briefed Kenyans on the first evacuation exercise.
The CS revealed that after the two evacuation exercises, the government will do another mass evacuation in coordination with the country’s national airline.
“A larger group of Kenyans are on a well-planned program of travel and we will have two aircraft ferry them from Port Sudan to Jeddah and, thereafter, travel to Nairobi by Kenya Airways.
“We estimate to ferry 300-400 Kenyans this way, if not more,” Mutua updated on the rescue plan in a statement.
The CS, while giving a scope of the evacuation process, revealed that five countries including Kenya were involved.
“I wish to thank South Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia for granting permission for Kenyan planes meant to evacuate stranded Kenyans in Sudan, to overfly their airspaces.
“I also, in particular, thank the Governments of South Sudan and Ethiopia for heeding our request and allowing Kenyans to cross their borders and make it to safety,” a statement from the CS read in part.
As the government went into top gear to rescue Kenyans stuck in war-torn Sudan, some of the citizens stuck there revealed that they could reach designated rescue centres.
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