Over 100 Irish people are believed to remain in Sudan, including aid workers, business people and returned immigrants who obtained citizenship while living here. However, the figure requiring evacuation may be much higher when children and other dependents are taken into account.
Meanwhile, a full Irish Emergency Consular Assistance Team is expected to be on the ground in Djibouti by Monday morning to assist in the evacuation. On Tuesday, smaller contingents of Irish diplomats and soldiers will travel on Swedish and German planes onward to Sudan where they will assist in processing and checking identification documents of Irish citizens before they board an aircraft back to Djibouti.
Twelve is the maximum number of troops that can be deployed overseas without triggering the “triple-lock” mechanism for overseas missions which requires the approval of the Government and the Dáil and the backing of a United Nations resolution.