© REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Jean-Claude Gakosso, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Congo-Brazzaville, gave an update on the situation of Congolese in Ukraine (illustration image)
The Congolese government announced on Friday that it had rescued at least 223 citizens residing in Ukraine since the country suffered the Russian invasion. But there is no news of twenty others blocked on Ukrainian territory because of the bombardments.
With our correspondent in Brazzaville, Loïcia Martial
It was Jean-Claude Gakosso, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Congolese Abroad, who gave an update to the senators during a session of oral questions. According to the head of Congolese diplomacy, thanks to diplomatic and consular representations, 223 fellow citizens were rescued and brought to safety.
These Congolese evacuated from Ukraine are mostly students, 171 of whom are currently in France. At least 42 have taken refuge with host families in Poland, where ten other people are still in a shelter, but at the expense of the Congolese government.
On the other hand, Jean-Claude Gakosso announced that the authorities have no news of around twenty students who have still not been able to leave Ukraine because of the bombardments. He assured that the government was working to get them out of this situation.
« In this respect, we received in audience at Foreign Affairs the Ambassador Head of the Delegation of the European Union (in the Congo), but also all the Ambassadors of EU Member States to whom we have requested support from us help get these students out of the furnace and welcome them on an exceptional basis to the territories of their countries “said Mr. Gakosso
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Congo has set up a crisis unit made up of several members of the government, ambassadors and consuls, in order to help its nationals who live in Ukraine.
