DFA to Pinoys in Sudan: Time to go home

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday urged Filipinos trapped in the Sudanese capital to flee Khartoum amid reports of looting of homes of foreigners.

Deadly fighting has raged in the northeast African country since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned on each other. 

The war has claimed the lives of at least 3,000 people and displaced millions.

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at least 110 Filipinos from Khartoum have contacted Philippine authorities seeking help although not all have expressed desire to return to the Philippines. 

“Yung iba ayaw umuwi kasi may utang pa ang employer (Some have refused to go home because their employers still owe them backpay),” he said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview. 

Another 17 Filipinos whose homes were raided by suspected RSF elements have been stranded in Port Sudan for the past 2 weeks while awaiting a repatriation flight. 

De Vega said they have received reports that RSF elements were looting houses of foreigners “because they have money.” 

“Economically nag co-collapse yung bansa…Our advice is time to go home,” he said. 

The DFA official said Philippine authorities are trying to arrange for mass repatriation “and not just individuals or a family.”

At least 748 Filipinos in Sudan have returned to the Philippines to escape the fighting, while some 200 have remained. With Agence France-Presse

Source: DFA to Pinoys in Sudan: Time to go home | ABS-CBN News