On Sunday, April 23, the Government of Kenyan conducted one of its largest evacuation exercises in post-independent history.
The rescue effort saw the coordination of three nations to ensure over 100 Kenyan students trapped in war-torn Sudan were brought home safely.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs working with its embassies in Juba, South Sudan and Addis Ababa ensured the students safely passed through Ethiopia on their way to Kenya.
Normally, a flight from Khartoum to Nairobi takes slightly over 3 hours but in the case of the evacuation exercise, the journey took a whole day.
This is because the students had to travel through Ethiopia in a 1,410-kilometre journey home since Khartoum Airport was extensively damaged, ruling out an airlift.
The government had to covertly facilitate their travel as they were to pass through Gondar City in Northern Ethiopia which has usually been dogged by conflict.
The evacuation process came at a time when the government had promised to ensure every Kenyan stuck in Sudan was put out of harm’s way.
“I want to assure everyone that we have made arrangements with our national airline in case the situation in Sudan gets out of hand.
“We have a plane on standby for evacuation purposes if the fighting persists,” Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary announced on Sunday, April 16.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei, however, announced that due to the extensive damage to Khartoum Airport, the government had looked for other alternatives.
“It is difficult to land there. So, the plan is to get Kenyans to Port Sudan from where they will be airlifted to Jeddah and then hopefully to Nairobi,” the PS announced on Sunday, April 23.
Korir further stated that the government was facilitating the evacuation of foreign diplomats from Sudan to Kenya where they could be airlifted to their countries.
Additionally, Mutua stated that Kenya was working directly with the Canadian Government to evacuate citizens of both countries.
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