By Dayo Yussuf
Kenya has received its first batch of evacuees from Sudan as countries continue to get their citizens out of Sudan due to ongoing fighting in the country.
Thirty-nine students arrived in the capital Nairobi in the early hours of Tuesday after being airlifted from neighboring South Sudan by a military aircraft.
The group which includes 19 Kenyans, 19 Somali citizens and a Saudi national had to traveled by road from Sudan to neighbouring South Sudan .
Speaking to journalists while receiving the students at the main airport in Nairobi, Kenya’s defense secretary Aden Duale reiterated his country’s commitment to bring back its citizens.
“The government is committed in ensuring the safe return of all Kenyans that wish to return from Sudan” said Duale. There are over 3000 Kenyans currently in the conflict-ridden country.
In the wake of the deadly clashes in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces, Kenyan foreign affairs ministry announced that it had set up a multi-agency technical team tasked with supporting its people there through humanitarian assistance and emergency evacuations.
However some of the students still stranded in Khartoum have taken to social media to express their frustrations over what they feel is a slow evacuation process.
The Kenyan authorities have assured that they would evacuate all Kenyans willing to go home.
The country's Principal Secretary for the State Department of Diaspora Affairs Roseline Njogu tweeted saying they are ''operating in a very fluid situation.''
Meanwhile the Interior minister for defense Adan Duale has asked Kenyans stranded in Sudan to continue registering with the hotline numbers.
Universities in Sudan have big numbers of foreign students especially from neighboring African countries including Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
More than 400 people have been killed and thousands more wounded in the clashes in Sudan.
The situation has also sparked an exodus of foreigners with governments around the world racing to repatriate their diplomats and other citizens.
