France helps evacuate Pinoys from strife-torn Sudan; PH envoy involved in car accident --- By MICHAELA DEL CALLAR

The French government has evacuated a number of Filipinos stranded in Sudan via sea amid the ongoing violence in the African state, its embassy in Manila said Wednesday. "France continues its evacuation operations launched in Khartoum for French nationals and citizens of other countries, including the Philippines, wanting to leave Sudan," the embassy said without specifying the number of Filipinos. The French navy frigate Lorraine also assisted the United Nations in the evacuation operation underway in Port Sudan. Since the start of the operation, France said a total of 538 people have been evacuated, including 209 French nationals and foreign nationals from 41 other countries. France had evacuated a significant number of citizens from other countries, in particular from European Union - 12 member states, Great Britain, three European Economic Area countries and Moldova. It has also assisted nationals from the African states of South Africa, Burundi, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan. Others were from the United States, Canada, India, Japan, and the Philippines. "France stands in solidarity on the ground by answering the call of many European and allied partners who reported their nationals in Sudan. The French Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS) contacted them to locate them and proceed as quickly as possible to their evacuation," the embassy said. The unabated fighting has killed hundreds and plunged Africa's third-largest country, where majority relied on aid, into a humanitarian disaster. It started with clashes between the forces of the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Manila has so far evacuated 50 Filipinos who were trapped in Sudan, mostly abandoned by their employers. Dozens of Filipinos are still awaiting evacuation. Manila does not have an embassy in Sudan. Accident Philippine Ambassador to Egypt Ezzedin Tago, who has jurisdiction over Sudan, was proceeding by car to the border to assist in the evacuation when his vehicle was involved in an accident, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. "Fortunately he was unharmed," DFA spokesperson Tess Daza said. "He has returned to Cairo and will be flying to the border to facilitate the entry of Filipino evacuees to Egypt." No Filipinos were reported killed due to the conflict, but Daza said one Filipino was wounded in the hand by a stray bullet and has received treatment. The Philippines is one of the world’s top labor-exporting nations with about 10 million skilled and unskilled workers scattered abroad, exposing them to abuses, unfair labor practices, and in some cases, civil strife and armed conflict. Remittances from Filipino migrant workers constitute a significant source of the country’s foreign exchange as they send home over $20 billion per year. —KG/VBL, GMA Integrated News

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