Former Foreign Minister Tells Govt Not To Blame Egypt For Evacuation Crisis

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, told the government to not blame Egypt for Nigerians' evacuation crisis from Sudan, noting that it was Nigeria's "own dysfunctionality."

Federal Government disclosed last month that the 5,500 Nigerians trapped in Sudan amid an ongoing battle between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will be evacuated via the Egypt route.

However, one batch of 637 Nigerians was stuck at the Egyptian border last week as they were supposed to undergo health screening before crossing the border.

"I'm not happy about the dysfunctionality of the arrangements in Nigeria," Akinyemi said, Vanguard reported. "Egypt knows only one institution of diplomacy when dealing with Nigeria and that is the Ministry of foreign affairs."

The former minister explained that the reason why Nigeria has an embassy in Egypt is that the embassy would help Nigeria to understand Egypt's ground rules.

"But then, we bring in the NiDCOM and Ministry of humanitarian affairs — bodies that Egypt might not have had any relationship with," Akinyemi continued. "They now start influencing what will happen in Egypt. It does not make sense."

He urged that the government should not blame Egypt for its dysfunctionality and instead, should empower the ministry of foreign affairs to do its job.

"Then, we can complain if they are derelict in doing that job or not doing it effectively," he explained. "Interposing the diaspora commission in the foreign field is only going to lead to the kind of problem that we saw."

Aside from health screening, Egypt also asked the Nigerian government to pay nine dollars per person and 25 dollars in visa fees.

Earlier this month, the chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission Abike Dabiri-Erewa disclosed that the government is working with relevant authorities to ensure that the Nigerian citizens can easily travel back to their country.

"Within Egypt itself, one cannot travel from one region to another without an exit permit," Dabiri-Erewa said at that time. "We are expecting a CI30 to take off within the hour. NAF is getting set to depart with food etc for Aswan."

President Muhammadu Buhari also intervened in order to speak with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to make sure that the stranded Nigerian citizens get clearance at the border.

Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said last month that they have sent 40 buses to evacuate at least 2,400 Nigerians in Sudan and this cost them $1.2 million.

The evacuation operation began after the battle between the Sudanese Army and RSF broke out on April 15. This internal conflict in Sudan led to the death of more than 400 people and injured 3,500 more in just a week.

Apart from Nigerians, there are many other nationals from South Africa, Syria, Canada, the United States, and Germany who also got stuck due to the ongoing crisis.