Sudan evacuates citizens from breakaway neighbour South Sudan

Sudan has joined the many countries evacuating their nationals from their breakaway neighbours South Sudan, which has faced deadly clashes last week between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and former rebels of Vice President Riek Machar.

Sudan will begin the evacuation from Juba on Friday, according to the Sudanese Media Centre in Khartoum.

“The first flight evacuating Sudanese from South Sudan will arrive tomorrow (Friday). We recorded 2,000 Sudanese who want to return home,” the agency said in a statement citing a government official.

There will be three to four daily flights to evacuate the thousands of Sudanese nationals living in South Sudan, it added saying “most are traders or working with international NGOs.”

The recent outbreak of violence in Juba has not however affected the number of South Sudanese seeking refuge in Sudan, according to the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UN (OCHA).

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and since South Sudan’s independence, relations between the two countries has not been smooth.