An IOM charter flight has flown 179 Eritrean, Ethiopian and Syrian refugees (42 families) from the Sudanese capital Khartoum to Kassel in Germany for resettlement.

Prior to departure, IOM Sudan provided health assessments and vaccinations for the refugees, who were living in refugee camps in the east of the country bordering Ethiopia and Eritrea.

They included Ethiopians who had lived in the camps since the 1980s and a Syrian family who arrived in 2014.

The Goethe Institute in Khartoum provided a five-day cultural orientation course to introduce the refugees to Germany’s language, culture and climate to facilitate their integration.

IOM Sudan operations and medical staff accompanied the refugees on the flight to Germany.

The refugees were met by officials from the German Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) at Kassel airport. Following a period of orientation, they will be resettled in various Lander across Germany.

Sudan is currently experiencing an influx of people fleeing the conflicts in Yemen and Syria. Over the past four decades it has also hosted refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Chad.

Since 2005, IOM Sudan has helped over 17,000 refugees resettle abroad, mainly in Canada, Australia, Scandinavia and Western Europe.

For more information please contact Dalia El Roubi at IOM Sudan, Tel: +249-9224-06686, +249-9121-54652, Email: delroubi@iom.int