Ottawa’s plans to airlift Canadians from Sudan stalled by inability to find landing spots

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The federal government says it will soon attempt evacuation flights out of Sudan, but can’t say exactly when it might get a plane to the beleaguered East African country, citing the complications of landing during an escalating conflict.

Ottawa is also cautioning it will only evacuate Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family from Sudan.

As well, it says any airlift will be to a third country, from which evacuees must make their own way home.

“Our objective is to get people to safety, so to get them to a third country that is safe,” Julie Sunday, assistant deputy minister at Global Affairs for consular, security and emergency management, told reporters on Wednesday.

She said if Canadians cannot afford to pay upfront for flights from third countries, Ottawa will check whether they qualify for an emergency loan.

As of Wednesday, about 180 Canadian citizens had left Sudan on flights operated by allied countries.

The United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Egypt, Jordan, Spain, the Netherlands and South Korea have reportedly landed aircraft in Sudan in the last week.

So far about 1,800 Canadian citizens in Sudan have registered their presence in the country with Global Affairs. About 700 people have requested assistance, of which more than 500 are Canadian citizens. Others are permanent residents and the status of some is not known.

Difficult to secure military aircraft landing spots in Sudan for evacuation: Trudeau

Khalid Yousif, a Canadian aircraft engineer from Calgary, and his family are among those who were airlifted to a third country but are now facing a huge travel bill to make it back to Canada.

Mr. Yousif and his family of five were in Sudan for a funeral when the conflict began. The British military evacuated them to Cyprus on Tuesday.

Ottawa has since said it would charge the family of five $10,000 for flights back to Canada, Mr. Yousif said.

The British did not charge the family for evacuating them from Sudan. “The British gave us water and food – they took care of us.”

Mr. Yousif said he’s disappointed by the treatment his family – and three other Canadian families, also in Cyprus – are receiving from Ottawa.

“I don’t think they are delivering what they are supposed to be delivering,” he said of the federal government. “I was expecting the Canadian government to do more for me.”

He said he’s willing to pay for tickets home but said the price Ottawa is quoting is too high.

“I am so disappointed I am going to pay $10,000 out of my pocket just to go home.”

Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie, commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command, told reporters a planned Canadian evacuation flight into Sudan was cancelled Wednesday as were several flights by other countries.

“We have other ones scheduled in the coming days,” he said.

Evacuation flights will take place “when conditions permit,” he added.

He cited security risks, the need for landing clearance, and the scarcity of available runways as some of the challenges facing evacuation flights into Sudan.

Two hundred Canadian soldiers are being dispatched to the region to help with evacuations, including 135 who have already landed at a staging base in Jordan, the government said.

The frigate HMCS Montreal and the supply ship MV Asterix are near Port Sudan to assist in evacuation as required.

Ms. Sunday of Global Affairs also cautioned that Canadians in Sudan should be prepared to move quickly if they want to leave. “There are no guarantees of any future evacuation plans past this week.”

Separately, the Canada Border Services Agency announced it has issued a temporary halt on removals to Sudan. “This measure is being taken in recognition of the increasing violence, armed conflict, civil unrest and the volatile security situation,” the agency said.

Sudan’s army and a paramilitary force battled on Khartoum’s outskirts on Wednesday, undermining a truce in an 11-day conflict that civilian groups fear will tighten the military’s grip and revive the sway of an ousted autocrat’s loyalists.

Air strikes and artillery have killed more than 500, wounded nearly 4,200, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in Sudan, where a third of its 46 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid.

The Sudanese army said Omar al-Bashir, the 79-year-old former dictator toppled in 2019, had been transferred from Khartoum’s Kober prison to a military hospital, along with at least five of his former officials, before hostilities started on April 15.

On the weekend, thousands of inmates were freed outright from prison, including a former minister in Mr. al-Bashir’s government who, like him, is wanted on war-crime charges by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

A French frigate carrying hundreds of evacuees docked Wednesday morning in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of broader efforts involving several warships, in addition to airlifts.

More than 1,000 people from 58 countries were to arrive Wednesday by ship to Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday organized the first evacuation convoy by land, via cars and buses bringing people to Port Sudan, where a navy ship took them to Jeddah.

The French Foreign Affairs Ministry said a flight carrying 184 French nationals and their families and about 20 other nationals landed in Paris Wednesday morning from Djibouti.

With reports from Associated Press and Reuters