Dozens of Sudanese nationals who have been stranded at the UN-protected camp in the town of Bentiu in South Sudan have been evacuated to Khartoum via Juba International Airport.
The Sudanese, many of them traders, were trapped in the town after fighting between loyalist troops and opposition forces in April.
Deputy Ambassador Majdi Ahmed Mufadal told Al Maugif newspaper that the evacuation of the Sudanese was coordinated with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
He noted about 68 Sudanese were transported to Juba on Sunday and then travelled to Khartoum yesterday morning.
Some of the trapped Sudanese remained in Bentiu town for personal reasons, according to the Sudanese diplomat. He further revealed that the group that is still in Unity State included Sudanese who got married to South Sudanese nationals.
“They were left because some of them did not have passports, therefore we could not process visas for them,” he explained.
Mufadal pointed out that the embassy will continue coordinating with IOM to find how to address the issue of those citizens who still remain stranded in Bentiu town.
Most of the remaining population of the UN-protected camp in Bentiu is ethnically Nuer.
File photo: A queue of water jerrycans at the Bentiu PoC site in Unity State, South Sudan
For breaking news updates from Radio Tamazuj ‘like’ our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed.