The raging conflict in Sudan has necessitated the evacuation of citizens of other countries and workers in multinational organisations out of the crisis-torn country. It is important that the Nigerian government must urgently rescue its citizens from the country. Over 1,262 Nigerian students in Sudan have urged the government to evacuate them from Sudan. The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis has called for dialogue between the warring military factions as a way of restoring peace in the country.
Since violence erupted between the forces of the Army Chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, thousands of people have fled the capital, Khartoum, and over 500 civilians reportedly killed. The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, stated that about 3,200 people had been injured in the crisis. The crisis followed a bitter dispute between Burhan and Daglo over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army — a key condition for a final deal aimed at resuming Sudan’s democratic transition. The two warlords played key roles in a 2021 coup that ousted a transition council in the country.
Sudan has not known enduring peace and stability since independence in 1956. It has the unenviable record of being the country with the highest coup plots in Africa. Sudan has witnessed at least 17 attempted coups, six of which were successful in its 67 years of nationhood. In April 2019, restive soldiers in Sudan carried out a coup that resulted in the overthrow of the 30-year long rule of Gen. Omar Al-Bashir. Two years later, in October 2021 another insurrection led to the overthrow of the power-sharing administration that was to return the country to civil rule in 2022.
The current situation in the country is a huge setback to democracy and constitutional order in Africa. The uncertainty in Sudan is one crisis too many and calls for urgent action by leaders of the continent. With a landmass of 1,886,068 square kilometers, Sudan is nearly double the size of Nigeria and the third largest country in Africa behind only Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Its neighbours include Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, and South Sudan. The ongoing crisis in Sudan will definitely affect her neighbours and even beyond.
Political instability is not good for the development of Africa. The ensuing bloodletting will worsen the fragile peace in that country. A return to constitutional democracy remains the only way out in Sudan. The armed conflict in the country has the potential to threaten the peace of neighbouring states and some other countries in West Africa including Nigeria as some 20,000 refugees are reported to be moving towards Chad, another volatile entity that has for more than two decades caused serious security concerns to Nigeria. There is an urgent need for immediate action to halt the needless conflict in Sudan and avoid further bloodshed in the country.
The African Union (AU) has called for an immediate cease-fire by the two parties without conditions in order to avoid escalating the conflict. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a multinational continental body comprising Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, has also called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan. IGAD resolved to send Presidents Salva Kiir of South Sudan, William Ruto of Kenya and Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti at the earliest possible time to reconcile the two warring parties. African leaders must work in concert to save Sudan from avoidable human carnage. Even though democracy in Africa is has not been exemplary, it is still the preferred and the best form of government than military rule.
Meanwhile, many countries are evacuating their nationals from Sudan. Multilateral organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) have rescued their staff from the country. Uganda, a member-nation of IGAD, has finalised plans to evacuate its nationals who are trapped in Sudan. The government has contacted the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to assist in the evacuation of Ugandan workers, students, patients and nationals on transit in the country.
The Nigerian government should expedite action in rescuing thousands of its citizens trapped in Sudan. Though the federal government has disclosed that plans are underway to evacuate Nigerians in Sudan, the matter should be attended with great dispatch. The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), which are in charge of emergency evacuations, must go beyond consultations to putting strategies in place to rescue Nigerians still confined in the war-torn country.
The NIDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has assured Nigerians that the Commission is in constant communication with all relevant partners including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and security agencies while seeking for an appropriate opportunity to evacuate all stranded Nigerians from Sudan.