Ghana has welcomed home 74 citizens who were evacuated from war torn Sudan on Tuesday. They arrived at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra at exactly 1120 hours aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET921 and were welcomed by Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. The Ghanaian nationals, who were mainly students, had successfully crossed the Sudan-Ethiopia border with the assistance of officials of the Ghana Embassy in Ethiopia. Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong, briefing the press, said one other Ghanaian national decided not to return to Ghana after he was airlifted from Sudan to Addis Ababa. 'The government is giving the evacuees an amount of GHS 500 for their transportation from Accra to their various destinations,' he said. 'We have informed them that the Government is not going to take responsibility when they decide to return to Sudan because the government did not sponsor their education in Sudan,' he said. The Deputy Minister said two other nationals who were working for a mining company along the border of Sudan and Egypt were already in Ghana, with the assistance of the company. He said there was another batch of four footballers who were in Egypt after crossing the Egyptian border and stated that arrangements were being made to bring them safely to Ghana. Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said the Government had put together a team of clinical psychologists to assess the evacuees and offer assistance to them, as well as do a follow-up in cases of post traumatic syndrome. He said the Government had plans to evacuate Ghanaian citizens from Sudan, where the regular army and the paramilitary force were engaged in a battle for supremacy and control over the country. 'Our commitment is to get our nationals out of the situation and into a state where there will be less risk. 'Every Ghanaian on our records or came to our attention is safe,' he said. He commended the various Missions and Embassies in Egypt and Ethiopia for helping to facilitate the evacuation of the Ghanaian nationals in Sudan. Mr Abdul Aziz Abdul Karim, leader of Ghanaian students in Sudan, said he mobilized the Ghanaian students to remain indoors and be calm when the conflict erupted. 'I graduated this year from the International University of Africa, where I studied Islamic Studies. 'I was processing for my certificate when the clashes started, I hope the situation will improve soonest and request for my certificate to be sent to me,' he said. He commended the swift collaboration between the Embassies of Egypt and Ethiopia for their safe evacuation to Ghana. On April 15, 2023, conflict broke out between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces. The two are engaged in a power struggle over who gets to run the resource-rich nation that sits at the crossroads between North Africa, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and the Red Sea.
Source: Ghana News Agency