By Ya Awa Touray
Senior government officials, including officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, were at the Banjul International Airport on Sunday, March 6th to welcome home two Gambian students from Ukraine, who were caught up in the raging Russia-Ukraine conflict. The two students, Sering Mass Laye and Amadou Bah, came via the via Turkish Airlines.
According to the officials of the Ministry Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, so far only the two have opted to come home but that majority of our nationals are safely evacuated.
The Ministry reported that at least 42 Gambians have been successfully assisted to leave Ukraine, most of them using the Polish border. As of yesterday, 6 students that were stuck in a Ukrainian military bunker close to the Russian border have been assisted out of Eastern Ukraine to Kiev.
All evacuees have been offered lodging for 5 days.
However, authorities revealed that there are a handful of Gambians that are either unreachable or decided to stay.