ABUJA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria on Thursday commenced the evacuation exercise for citizens stranded in Sudan, with the first batch of evacuees expected to arrive in the West African country on Friday, an official said.
Nigeria has prioritized the evacuation of students, as well as women and children, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, head of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, told reporters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, noting that adequate security was already put in place to ensure safe passage for the evacuees.
Some 13 buses on Thursday departed from two universities in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, to convey Nigerian students to the Aswan border in Egypt, where they will be airlifted to Nigeria, Dabiri-Erewa said, adding that airplanes deployed for the evacuation of the stranded Nigerian citizens had been scheduled to leave Nigeria at 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, and will return with the first group of evacuees on Friday.
