Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly speaks with reporters as she heads to a meeting of cabinet on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Joly says another 50 Canadians were evacuated out of Sudan in the past day. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Ottawa is unlikely to evacuate citizens from Sudan after this week, officials say, despite no timeline for Canadian planes to actually start airlifting people.
About 200 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are in the region, along with military planes and ships.
But none of those assets have helped bring home roughly 150 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their dependants, who have instead left Sudan on the planes and ships of other countries.
Military and government officials who gave a technical briefing to reporters on the condition they not be named say that a ceasefire in Sudan is providing some stability, even if it’s not being fully respected, but there is no sign of it being extended.
They say that Canada aborted a planned flight to evacuate citizens today because officials in Sudan said an airstrip needed repair.
Military officials say Canadian planes are arriving much later than those of numerous allies and even some developing nations that are close by, in part because they were stationed as far away as the Arctic and Japan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2023.
