Evacuation flights to bring Canadians home from Sudan have ended, the federal government said Saturday evening, amid escalating violence and deteriorating safety conditions.
Ottawa said Canadians that are wishing to leave Sudan by road should consider leaving via Port Sudan, where commercial options may be available.
It is advising people to avoid travelling to the Wadi Seidna Airfield due to “the deteriorating security situation.”
Earlier Saturday, Defence Minister Anita Anand had said that efforts to bring Canadians home from Sudan would continue as long as possible.
Ms. Anand said approximately 375 Canadians have been evacuated so far, either by Ottawa or its allies, but more than 300 remain in Sudan. Fighting between the military and the country’s main paramilitary force has killed hundreds of people and sent thousands fleeing, and has continued despite a series of ceasefires.
“We are going to continue flights as long as possible, but I will say that the situation is dynamic,” Ms. Anand said at a morning news conference. She advised Canadians still in Sudan to keep in touch with Global Affairs Canada “because of the evolving situation on the ground.”
About 1,800 Canadians have notified GAC that they were in Sudan. Ottawa has said it will only arrange evacuation flights for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family from Sudan, although it will carry foreign nationals at the request of allies.
Ms. Anand said the government was examining other options, including evacuating Canadians by land or sea. Two hundred Canadian soldiers have been dispatched to the region to help with evacuations. The frigate HMCS Montreal and the supply ship MV Asterix are near Port Sudan to assist as required.
Meanwhile, people in Canada with family in Sudan have been closely following the developments, worried about the safety of their loved ones.
Einam Mohamadain, a permanent resident who arrived in Canada from Sudan in 2018, expressed disappointment that Canadian authorities on the ground refused to allow her 70-year-old mother to get on one of the evacuation flights.
She said her mother, Mariam Bashir Bushara Osman, left the capital, Khartoum after her home was destroyed by a bomb. She was able to reach the Wadi Sayyidna Airport, located about 22 kilometres north of the city, hoping to catch an evacuation flight to Kenya, but was denied boarding.
The fighting is getting close to the airport, Ms. Mohamadain said, and she is concerned that her mother will be trapped there.
“I think there is no hope,” she said in a Globe and Mail interview, fighting back tears. “What she will do more, I don’t know.”
Ms. Mohamadain said her mother acted on information shared by the Emergency Watch and Response Centre at GAC, which said two Canadian evacuation flights would leave the airport Saturday for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family.
Ms. Mohamadain said a Canadian official asked for her birth certificate to prove that her mother is an immediate family member and therefore eligible for evacuation. Ms. Mohamadain sent her birth certificate, but she said her mother was denied boarding because Ms. Mohamadain is 32 years old and thus not a dependent child. This appears to exclude her from GAC’s definition of an immediate family member.
GAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Sudanese nationals in Canada, starting on Sunday, will be able to apply for an extension to their status and “move between various temporary streams, allowing them to continue studying, working, or visiting family free of charge.”
He said his ministry had processed all 50 proof-of-citizenship applications received from Canadian citizens residing in Sudan, along with 85 of the 154 temporary residence extensions in Canada they received as of Thursday.
A total of four Canadian military flights have left the Khartoum since Thursday, taking evacuees to a safe third country in the region.
Gunfire continued in the capital Saturday despite a formal ceasefire between the two sides, and the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate estimates more than 400 civilians have died and more than 2,000 have been injured since violence broke out two weeks ago.
With reports from The Canadian Press and the Associated Press.