CAIRO- Egypt’s measures to impose an entry visa for Sudanese citizens arriving to the country aim to establish a regulatory framework more than 50 days after the crisis in conflict-ridden Sudan, Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid said Saturday.
The measure is not intended to prevent or limit the number of Sudanese citizens arriving to Egyptian territories, he told journalists.
Since the crisis began, Egypt has received around 200,000 Sudanese citizens fleeing their country. Egypt is regarded as one of the neighbouring nations that has received the greatest number of Sudanese people. These figures, in addition to the almost 5 million Sudanese citizens who have been residing in Egypt since before the crisis, must be considered because the Egyptian government is responsible for providing essential services to all Sudanese people on its territory, including health, education, and housing infrastructure, the spokesman explained.
Over the past few months, illegal activities on the Sudanese side of the border have spread, which included falsifying entry visas to Egypt, taking advantage of Sudanese citizens’ need to enter Egypt and the Egyptian side’s good intentions to respond to and absorb large influxes of arrivals. As a result, the Egyptian authorities have developed regulatory procedures that rely on automated visas to combat these crimes, he added.
The Egyptian consulates in Sudan have been provided with the necessary electronic devices to implement these procedures in an accurate, quick, and secure manner, ensuring the orderly arrival of Sudanese citizens to Egypt, the spokesman revealed.
Regular meetings of the joint consular committees with Sudan are held to evaluate and update the applicable processes, he concluded.
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