German plane evacuates 58 Canadians from Sudan

I learned earlier today that a German plane took off from Khartoum with a German citizen and 58 Canadians on board.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a photo opportunity with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Ottawa.

We also have a file [avion] C-17 in the region and we will also provide air transportationhe added.

As of Monday, 1,473 Canadians were officially registered in Sudan, but experts believe the number of Canadians there is likely to be much higher.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly indicated earlier Monday that Canada is working with the allied countries To help citizens who remained in Sudan to flee the country.

Global Affairs Canada has provided very little information on efforts to date to get Canadian citizens or even its employees out of Sudan.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Ottawa on April 24, 2023

Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable

“huge obstacles”

Asked about it by the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defense and Veterans Affairs, National Defense Minister Anita Anand did not provide further details on the evacuations, but confirmed that Canadian diplomats are in Sudan. Safe and working from outside the country.

For his part, Major General Wayne Eyre, Chief of Defense Staff, explained that evacuations from Sudan are complicated by the conflict on the ground, recalling that Khartoum airport is closed and access to the capital is severely limited.

We must bear in mind these formidable obstaclesHe added before the same committee. We are doing everything we can to protect Canadians on the ground.

American Daily newspaper New York times On Sunday, it wrote, US special forces evacuated six Canadian diplomats, along with 70 US diplomats, some from other countries.

there BBCMeanwhile, it reported that the Canadians were part of a group evacuating by sea to Saudi Arabia.

As of August 2022, the embassy in Khartoum had 6 Canadian-based and 12 local employees, according to data provided by the department to the Senate committee.

Ottawa does not evacuate its locally recruited Sudanese staff and ensures that it is examining all possible options to support them.

French nationals evacuees from Sudan arrive at the air base of the French Armed Forces stationed in Djibouti.

Photo: Reuters/Army

Measures to help the Sudanese in Canada

Bombings, airstrikes and gunfire have not stopped since April 15 in Khartoum between the national army and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, displacing thousands of the capital’s residents and plunging them into chaos.

Those who cannot flee are trying to survive, deprived of water and electricity, and suffering from food shortages and internet and telephone cuts.

More than 420 people have been killed, including at least 273 civilians, and more than 3,700 have been injured since the fighting began following a rapid deterioration in power-sharing negotiations between the two sides.

Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser announced on Monday that Sudanese nationals in Canada will be able to Temporarily extend their stay here rather than go home at this time.

Once these measures are in place, Sudanese citizens will be able to apply for a free extension of their status in Canada and change their temporary status to allow them to continue studying, working and being with their families.The ministry said in a statement that more details will be revealed in the coming days.

Ottawa will also award Priority processing applications for temporary and permanent residency Sudanese among them Visitor visa applications for eligible immediate family members who are Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada, so that they can join their loved ones in Canada.

A plane full of foreigners escorted by the Spanish Mobile Forces on the runway of Khartoum airport.

Photo: Reuters / Note of the Spanish Ministry of Defense

“we are disappointed”

Waddah Madani, a Canadian in Khartoum, said she received an email from the Canadian government at 2:45 a.m. local time Monday evening telling her Reserve a seat on an evacuation flight It is scheduled for noon that day.

However, because the country’s internet and telephone services were largely down over the weekend, she did not receive the email until late afternoon and said she did not receive a direct response Monday night from the Emergency Control and Response Center in Ottawa.

We are already frustrated, we don’t know what is going on and what will happen. And the connection is basically badshe said in an interview.

The 29-year-old said she was debating whether to embark on the dangerous flight Tuesday morning to an air force base on the outskirts of the city, where her sister in Ottawa heard about a suspected evacuation flight.

” They keep saying there is a ceasefire for now, but they don’t really respect that. We still hear gunshots. »

A satellite image shows smoke rising from two burning planes at Khartoum International Airport, Sudan, Sunday, April 16, 2023.

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Photo: Associated Press

Members of the Sudanese community in Canada on Sunday called on the federal government to do more to help civilians trapped in Sudan.

Unfortunately for the Sudanese Canadians trapped there, they are hopeless, and cannot evacuate. They have run out of food and no one knows what will happen, it is hopelessAshraf Ahmed, head of the Sudanese Association in Canada, said.

Foreign capitals were able to negotiate passages with the two warring parties: the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader; ipso facto Sudan and his deputy, who became his rival, Major General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary forces FSR.

More than 1,000 citizens ofEuropean Union Evacuated. first group The Chinese, dozens of South Africans and hundreds of citizens of Arab countries also left, by land, sea or air.

About 700 foreign employees fromUnited nationslnon Governmental Organization and embassies They were evacuated to Port SudanAccording to the United Nations. Dozens of other aid workers have been evacuated to Chad from West Darfur, the region worst affected by the fighting with Khartoum.