Crisis in Sudan | The next few days will be crucial for the repatriation of Canadians

(Ottawa) Two Canadian Armed Forces CC-130 Hercules aircraft are in the Sudan region, ready to conduct evacuation flights as soon as “conditions permit” – conditions which, when in place, are unlikely to not stay that way for very long, warns Global Affairs Canada.

National Defense Minister Anita Anand provided an update on Wednesday as the hours of the 72-hour ceasefire that came into effect on Monday slip away. The truce is, moreover, very fragile, new fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitaries having broken out in the capital, Khartoum.

“Canadian Armed Forces members and assets have been sent to the area and are planning evacuation operations […] They are coordinating, in close collaboration with our allies and partners, their efforts to be able to evacuate as many people as possible,” she said.

The 200 Canadian soldiers recently deployed to Djibouti and Jordan “are ready” to begin evacuation flights and will do so “as soon as ground conditions permit”, said Mr.^me Anand. And they won’t be in place for long, senior government officials have warned.

Because beyond the next few days, the security environment risks deteriorating in the North-East African country, and we must therefore take advantage of the “window” that has opened while it is. , explained the assistant deputy minister of the consular section at Global Affairs, Julie Sunday.

While the truce offers an opportunity, it doesn’t make Operation Savannah simple: A Canadian flight scheduled to land in Sudan on Wednesday has been cancelled, according to Vice Admiral Bob Auchterlonie, commander of Joint Operations Command. from Canada.

Each CC-130 Hercules aircraft can carry approximately 100 passengers. The first leg of the journey will be at government expense, but once safely in a safe third country, evacuees will have to pay for their ticket to Canada if they wish to return. Emergency loans could be granted.

In addition to this duo of aircraft stationed in the region, Canada has deployed two ships in the Red Sea, in Port Sudan, a frigate and a supply ship. Evacuations by sea are also possible, but this is not the option favored by the Armed Forces, said Vice-Admiral Auchterlonie.

180 Canadians rescued

Of some 1,800 Canadians in Sudan, according to the Global Affairs registry, about 700 had requested some form of assistance, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly noted in a scrum on Wednesday.

A little later, Deputy Minister Sunday said that so far, 180 Canadians had been rescued. She thanked Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Greece for their contribution, as well as the United States, which evacuated diplomats from the Ottawa embassy to Khartoum.

Canada lags behind other countries in repatriation.

When asked to explain the gap with countries that have managed to establish air bridges over the past few days, Minister Anand simply thanked those countries that have come to the aid of stranded Canadians in Sudan.

And the Sudanese?

Seats on Canadian evacuation flights are reserved for citizens and permanent residents as well as their immediate family (partners and children), and potentially local employees of the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum, should they wish to leave.

Since her ailing 82-year-old mother does not own the Canadian citizen, Doha Elsharief, who is the holder, preferred to stay in the Sudanese capital. “All day, we hear bullets whistling and bombs, we often have to take refuge under a bed,” she testified in a WhatsApp call.

“Things are really starting to deteriorate. We lack food and water, and it is impossible to withdraw money. But going back to Canada and leaving my mother behind, I can’t do that, ”said the one who lives in Edmonton and who took the direction of Sudan a year ago to accompany her mother.

If the Minister of Immigration, Sean Fraser, last Monday relaxed certain immigration measures (for Sudanese in Canada and Canadians in Sudan), he has not come to the point of proposing a specific reception program for Sudanese as it was done for the Afghans or for the Ukrainians.

However, he did not categorically dismiss it. “I am studying other options,” dropped the minister.