The Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said some 30 Filipinos awaiting repatriation to the Philippines are currently stuck at the Port of Sudan as flights became unavailable due to the Hajj pilgrimage.
DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes said that there are still some 150 Filipinos in conflict-torn Sudan, while 30–around 20 adults and nine children—are at the Port of Sudan, from where they would take a plane going to either Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, or Doha, Qatar.
“We are having a hard time finding flights for them because, as you know, it’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi, especially in Jeddah, which is near Mecca),” the DFA official said.
“Almost all of our countrymen who want to leave and pass through Saudi are having a hard time because there are no available flights because there are many people now in Jeddah and Mecca,” he added.
Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. If they can, adult Muslims must make the pilgrimage at least once in their lives.
Cortes said they meant to book one flight for all Filipinos who want to leave, but this would still depend on the availability of flights.
According to him, there is also another “challenge” facing the Philippines in repatriating the remaining Filipinos in Sudan.
“There is also a slight challenge because we need to ask entry visas from Saudi or Qatar for our countrymen so they can pass through those countries where they will get flights to the Philippines,” he said.
Cortes added that some Filipinos also failed to bring their passports and only have their travel documents with them since they were in a hurry to leave the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, where the fighting started.
Deadly fighting raged in Sudan since mid-April between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).