Special testimonies for Al-Jazeera Net .. the full story of the crisis of the Sudanese stranded in Egypt

Ismail Gabriel Tissot - Khartoum

For the third week, 1080 Sudanese stuck in Egypt face an unknown fate due to the closure of airspace and border crossings by the Sudanese authorities, as part of its precautionary measures to curb the spread of the Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The Sudanese embassy in Cairo succeeded in evacuating most of the Sudanese stranded in the Sebaeia area and Aswan governorate, while about 400 people remain with the embassy in negotiations to evacuate them to Cairo.

Despite the arrival of hundreds in Cairo, most of the stranded people continued to demand the Sudanese government to evacuate them directly to Sudan, and to subject them to quarantine according to the precautionary measures in place in the country.

Some understand

In light of this climate of anger, the feelings of Taj Al-Sir, one of the Sudanese relations in Cairo, spoke that she understood the state’s decision to close border crossings and suspend flights, but it blamed the competent authorities for speed in making the decision without giving the stranded a chance, as many countries have done.

While affirming the stability of their health and living conditions, she renewed feelings of appeal to the Sudanese government to exclude those who are stranded and allow them to enter the country and subject them to quarantine.

For its part, the Sudanese authorities are stressing the way forward in implementing the precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, and Dr. Shatha Sayed Ahmed, director of primary health care at the Sudanese Ministry of Health in Khartoum, cuts off the absence of any exceptions for the stranded.

Sayed Ahmed told Al-Jazeera Net that the government had given the stranded 48 hours after the announcement of the precautionary measures, during which the crossings were opened and more than a thousand people entered and quarantined, but after the deadline has passed, the border crossings or the Sudanese airspace will not open again.

For his part, Mohamed Ishaq, who is stranded in Egypt, fears that the living and health conditions will worsen after the failure of the negotiations that took place with the Sudanese embassy regarding the evacuation of the stranded from the area of ​​Sibai and their commitment to return to Sudan.

In order to avoid the tension prevailing in the atmosphere, Isaac called on the transitional government in Sudan to provide and create quarantines to receive the stranded, so that the situation does not lead to a real crisis that may disturb the Sudanese-Egyptian relations.

Charges to the embassy

Videos on the media included Sudanese people who stormed their embassy in Cairo, protesting the continuation of their crisis and at the same time demanding the transitional government in Sudan to open crossings and airports so that they could enter Sudan and submit to quarantine according to precautionary measures to limit the spread and spread of Corona in Sudan.

The Minister Plenipotentiary of the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo, Ambassador Khaled Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, confirmed the incident of the attack on the embassy, ​​and told Al-Jazeera Net that a group of Sudanese residing in Egypt rushed to the embassy buildings when they learned of distributing money to the stranded people, so their congestion led to a state of chaos that ended in breaking the embassy doors and windows .

The Commissioner revealed contacts with the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khartoum, in light of which a decision was taken to close the embassy indefinitely after sensing a state of insecurity in light of the siege imposed by some Sudanese on the embassy building in Cairo.

The intruders accused the Sudanese embassy in Cairo of lying about providing the necessary services to the stranded, stressing the importance of the embassy fulfilling the right to citizenship and implementing their desire to return them to Sudan.

They denied that they have political goals, considering that they contributed to the outbreak of the revolution in rejection of corruption and tyranny, and described what they are subjected to as immoral, especially in light of the presence of patients among them, who fear that their health conditions will become worse.

The embassy denies

Khaled Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, Minister Plenipotentiary and Chargé d'Affaires of the Sudanese embassy in Cairo, denied the accusations directed at them of ignoring the embassy for its Sudanese citizens stranded in Egypt, pointing to the efforts that his embassy has been undertaking towards its Sudanese citizens stranded since the outbreak of the crisis.

Ambassador Khaled Al-Sheikh told Al-Jazeera Net that since the beginning of the stranded crisis, the embassy distributed $ 100,000 to the stranded, and rented sixty furnished apartments, including subsistence, and provided medical care to patients through the medical advisory of the Sudanese embassy.

But Dr. Souad Fagiri, a Sudanese working as a consultant to the Union of Civil Society Organizations in Egypt, criticized the embassy’s move to spend $ 100,000 on the stranded, saying to Al-Jazeera Net, “The money could have been invested in evacuating the stranded to Sudan and opening the crossings for 48 hours and bringing them in quarantine.”

The poor accused the Sudanese embassy in Cairo of failing to manage the crisis of the stranded in Egypt and feared the negative repercussions of the prolonged crisis regarding the health and behavior of the stranded, which, in her words, constitutes a stigma in the forehead of the Sudanese government by imprisoning its citizens inside the territory of another country.

Work continues

Despite the decision to close the Sudanese embassy in Cairo indefinitely, the Commissioner Plenipotentiary and Chargé d'Affaires Khaled El-Sheikh confirmed the continuation of their efforts to evacuate about 400 Sudanese stranded in the Sebaeia area via regiments to Cairo in the coming hours.

Ambassador Khaled Al-Sheikh praised the positions of Sudanese businessmen and philanthropists residing in Cairo, who said that they provided financial and in-kind support and contributed in an increasing amount to the housing and subsistence of their citizens stuck in Egypt.