UPDATE ON SUDAN: Egypt opens border for Nigerians to be airlifted

The Egyptian authorities have opened the Aswan border to Nigerians evacuated from war-ravaged Sudan to be airlifted back to Nigeria.

The chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa gave the update on Twitter earlier today.

According to Dabiri-Erewa, President Muhammadu Buhari had to intervene to get the Egyptian authorities to open its border for Nigerians.

“With the intervention of President Buhari, Egypt has finally opened its border to Nigerians fleeing Sudan. With an Airforce plane already on the ground in Aswan, Egypt, the processing of the first set of evacuees will begin” the tweet stated.

Earlier on Friday, April 28, the first batch of Nigerians evacuated from Sudan arrived at Egypt’s border but was denied entry. Due to the delays at the border, the second batch of Nigerians was evacuated from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital on Sunday, April 30 was moved to Port Sudan, to be evacuated through Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, one of the buses conveying part of the second batch of Nigerians being evacuated from Khartoum caught fire in the early hours of Monday.

Daily Trust reports that the bus conveying 50 Nigerians from Sudan tagged (Katsina 1) was heading to Port Sudan when one of its tyres caught fire.  However, all of the passengers escaped unhurt.

The passengers have since continued their journey to Port Sudan.