Khaberni -The Egyptian authorities have allocated a train to facilitate the voluntary return of thousands of Sudanese and their families to their homeland.
The Egyptian National Railways Authority announced the operation of a special train to facilitate the transportation of Sudanese residents in Egypt wishing to return to their homeland through the Aswan governorate, adding that train number 1940 from Cairo to Aswan has been scheduled for this task today, Monday.
The Egyptian authorities have decided to provide all necessary services to ensure the comfort of the Sudanese during the journey until their arrival at the High Dam river port.
This comes days after the Sudanese embassy in Cairo supervised an initiative to evacuate more than 1,200 Sudanese citizens from Alexandria after obstacles hindered their return to their country. A Sudanese citizen had launched an initiative to transport returning Sudanese voluntarily for a nominal fee of 8 dollars, successfully arranging for 22 buses to take the Sudanese living in Alexandria back to their country.
The Sudanese embassy mentioned that the buses had indeed reached the starting point, but financial obligations towards the bus owners were not met, which led to the cessation of the operation and the buses did not move.
The embassy announced that it had intervened directly and communicated with the General Secretariat of the Affairs of Sudanese Working Abroad, the Defense Industries System, and a number of businessmen, who responded and covered the full cost of the buses, facilitating the launch of the evacuation process and the return of the Sudanese.
The routes for the return of Sudanese from Egypt to their country after successive victories of the army and the liberation of some regions, states, and cities, including the capital Khartoum, faced a major crisis and severe congestion in recent months. The Qustul-Ashkeet crossing experienced overcrowding that led to a complete paralysis of travel movement, while eyewitnesses confirmed that the congestion starts from Aswan, due to the inability of Nile ferries to accommodate the huge number of travel buses, in addition to the influx of thousands of Sudanese wishing to return and the scarcity of buses transporting them to their country.
Facilitating the Return
Ambassador Abdelqader Abdullah Mohamed, the Consul General of Sudan in Aswan located on the Egyptian-Sudanese border, in previous statements to "Al Arabiya.net" and "Al Hadath.net," said that the Egyptian authorities are exerting intensive efforts to facilitate the voluntary return of Sudanese families, emphasizing that the return trips from Egypt began more than a year ago, despite the ongoing war, as some families returned on their own decision due to their funds running out and having ties and interests in Sudan.
He continued that the Egyptian authorities facilitated their return, as they exempted the returnees from fines and legal accountability, and also provided facilities to host them at some stations until they reached the Sudanese borders, all of which is still ongoing in order to facilitate the return.
Sudanese had fled to Egypt in huge numbers after the war broke out in April 2023, with their number, according to semi-official statistics, reaching nearly more than one and a half million people. Meanwhile, Christine Bishay, Assistant Foreign Relations Officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Cairo, mentioned that Egypt hosts 546,746 registered Sudanese refugees, in addition to others waiting for registration.
The war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Sudanese, and the displacement of more than 11 million, of which 3.1 million have sought refuge outside the country, according to a United Nations statement.
