Persons with disability abandoned in Khartoum amid evacuation

The executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani has called for persons with disability to be prioritized during evacuation exercise from war-torn Sudan.

 “The category of our society called persons with disability who are refugees in Sudan raised a complaint, they are facing hardship in accessing humanitarian response, some of them are in Khartoum stranded because they have not been considered to be evacuate to the border town of Renk,” said Yakani in an interview with The Juba Echo in Juba on Sunday.

He said some of the persons with disability have no relatives, and thus need to be supported by the transitional unity government.

“As you provide humanitarian assistance to South Sudanese returnees, we should not discriminate the category of person with disabilities,” said Yakani.

The national minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management Albino Akol Atak, said last week that so far more than 70,000 people, including foreign nationals escaping conflict in Sudan have crossed into the country through various border crossing points.

Akoc Akuei Manhiem, the head of Citizens Call for Emergency Evacuation, said his organization is evacuating vulnerable people from Renk and Paloch and as well from Khartoum.

 “That is not true, we have brought vulnerable people from Paloch to Juba, the 150 people are elderly, disabled, children, pregnant women and lactating mothers,” Manhiem said.

He said the challenges they face currently are inadequate resources to meet the immediate needs of the people evacuated to Juba.

“One of the challenges we face in Sudan which we have to solve with the foreign affairs minister is that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) block our people from leaving Khartoum, about 4 trucks were returned a day before yesterday, one in Bahri, and others leaving Omdurman, they are still there, they have not left,” Manhiem said.

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