More South Africans who escaped conflict-torn Sudan made it back to Cape Town yesterday, welcomed by South Africa and their loved ones with open arms and relieved hearts.
Cape Town, South Africa (07 May, 2023)—South Africans waited with bated breath for the news that fellow locals had made it home safely after being caught in the conflict in Sudan.
Gift of The Givers was instrumental in helping DIRCO (the Department of International Relations and Cooperation) as well as other government branches who were bent on getting their people home.
While the first group of South Africans made it back on Sunday, the following day revealed that 22 people were still stuck in Safaga Port, Egypt.
The group shared that they were stuck on the boat for three days until they were eventually released.
“Thanks to the commitment and dedication of our diplomatic staff at the SA Embassy in Cairo who negotiated with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and National Security Agency, and made the six-hour road trip to the port, the group were “released”.
“They made their way to a local hotel relieved that they had escaped the war via Port Sudan alive and unscathed, were permitted to leave the cargo ship after four days and will depart for Cairo this afternoon to take a flight in the early hours of tomorrow morning to Addis Ababa and onwards to Cape Town on Ethiopian Airlines.”—Gift of The Givers.
The 22 South Africans are ship repair workers who embarked on a job. However, after conflict erupted in Sudan’s Khartoum in mid-April, it was all systems go for the workers to get out of the heat.
The airport reunion with their families was highly anticipated by the whole country.
Of the government’s help with SA and foreign nationals, GOTG shared:
“When you witness the thousands of other nationalities stranded at the borders without documents and no consular services from their countries, the intervention of the South African diplomatic service was commendable, they may have been late due to multiple factors beyond their control, but they arrived and battled bureaucracy at the border for hours not only to gain passage for their own nationals but others from Angola, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and the United States.”
Additionally, two Scotties that a family were told to leave behind also made it back safely thanks to public support.
by 