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Entebbe, UGANDA: A total of 211 Ugandans who were living & working in the Republic of Sudan arrived at Entebbe Airport on Thursday morning following a successful evacuation from the conflict-hit country.
The evacuees in the company of Ambassador Joseph Ocwet, the Director General of ESO composed of diplomats, students, and business expatriates reached Entebbe aboard a Uganda Airlines plane at around 2 am this morning.
On arrival, the returnees were received by General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Senior Presidential Advisor on Operations the designated supervisor of the special evacuation operation.
How the Ugandan Nationals were evacuated
Government had previously disclosed that 300 Ugandans had been trapped in Sudan, following the civil war, however, after the direct involvement of President Museveni, preparations were made to evacuate the stranded Ugandans, starting with those in Khartoum where the fighting had intensified.
According to sources, the entire evacuation initiative was spearheaded by President Museveni with support from the Sudanese government and the Ugandan embassy staff in Khartoum.
“The President showed considerable care about the welfare and safety of Ugandans. He has been seeking daily updates and making assurances about the need to ensure the safety of Ugandan citizens,” Dr Rashid Yahya Ssemuddu, Uganda’s ambassador to Sudan said on Tuesday.
President Museveni directed the relevant authorities to start the evacuation process from the greater conflict area of Khartoum.
He started by asking ESO chief Ocwet to work with Kampala’s embassy in Khartoum to mobilise Ugandans and later evacuate them “safely”.
“So, Ambassador Ocwet, the director general ESO together with Brig Gen Frederick Karara (defence attachè) began to mobilise Ugandans in Khartoum mainly through telephone and WhatsApp groups. Good enough, the majority of Ugandans in Khartoum have leadership,” Mr Ofwono Opondo, the government spokesperson, told journalists in Kampala on Tuesday.
All trapped Ugandans, according to Mr Opondo were then mobilised to assemble at the University of Africa in Khartoum, where majority of the students are while the working group were brought to the embassy.
Ambassador Ocwet and Brig Karara then organised buses to transport Ugandans towards the border of Ethiopia, in the east.
Prior to this journey, which lasted 12 hours and 45 minutes, the ambassador together with other officials shared a light moment with some of the evacuees and took pictures.
Their journey was, however, kept a secret until Monday afternoon when they had safely left Khartoum.
The buses arrived at Garabati, a Sudanese border with Ethiopia on Tuesday morning.
Source:Daily Express