Photo/Illutration Japanese citizens and their family members undergo health checks at the Self-Defense Forces base in Djibouti on April 24 after evacuating from Sudan. (Eishiro Takeishi)

Five more Japanese nationals and their family members left conflict-ridden Sudan with the help of Canada and another Japanese was evacuated to Jordan, the Foreign Ministry announced on April 27.

The five evacuees who newly requested to leave Sudan departed from an air base north of the capital Khartoum. The ministry said they arrived in Djibouti on April 27, where the Self-Defense Forces maintains a base for anti-piracy missions.

“They have no major health problems,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference on April 28.

The six new evacuees brought the total number of Japanese nationals and their family members who have left Sudan to 65.

For those wishing to return to Japan, the government will send them via an airplane set to leave Djibouti on the morning of April 28, at the earliest, several government sources said.

Shunsuke Takei, the vice foreign minister who oversees protecting Japanese nationals in Djibouti, will travel with them by commercial airplane.

They will arrive in Japan on April 29, Matsuno said.

As of the morning of April 27, 55 Japanese nationals and their family members had evacuated to Djibouti.

Among these, 45 people traveled overland from Khartoum to the northeastern city of Port Sudan and took an SDF plane to Djibouti. Ten others left Sudan with the assistance of France from an air base on the outskirts of Khartoum and other locations.

Matsuno said there are no more Japanese who wish to leave Sudan at this point.

“The government will do all it can to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens who remain in Sudan and provide them with the necessary support,” he said.

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