Somalia evacuates over 100 citizens from Sudan

GOOBJOOG NEWS | MOGADISHU: More than 100 Somali citizens who were stranded in Sudan due to the ongoing stalemate arrived in the country Sunday.

The evacuees, mostly students, arrived by plane in the capital Mogadishu, said Abdurahman Nur Mohamed Diinaari, and were welcomed by government officials who said Forty-five of the them were later transported to Garowe, the administrative capital of the Somali state of Puntland, Diinaari said.

“Through the assistance of the International Organization for Migration, Somalia’s foreign ministry has finally been able to relocate 148 Somalis from Sudan to Somalia today,” he said.

The Somali citizens had traveled by land from Sudan to Ethiopia and then onward by air to Somalia.

Somalia itself has been plagued by violence for years. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which opposes the federal government, frequently launches deadly attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of the country.

One of the Somalis evacuated on Sunday said in an interview that she was happy to be alive and back in her country.

“I am pleased that I have finally arrived in my country. However, what we have been through is unusual and hard to describe, but I am grateful for the opportunity to survive,” Ramlo Mohamed, one of the evacuees, told AP. “I pray in the meantime for God to assist our Muslim brothers in Sudan in alleviating their plight.”