Mitte-Bregy calls for a crisis strategy from the FDFA

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Center party leader Philipp Matthias Bregy (44) finds the strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EDA) “dangerous”. For the National Councilor from Wallis, it is unacceptable that the branch in Sudan only deals with diplomats with Swiss passports.

“Both the Swiss abroad and the non-Swiss embassy staff were not evacuated.” This raises questions for him, “precisely because the danger for those left behind” – in the capital Khartoum, but also in other parts of the country on the Red Sea – “appears very great”.

locked up at home

For example, Boudewijn Noez (32) impressively described what had been experienced in Khartoum since the outbreak of war in the “Tages-Anzeiger”: “When fighter jets and drones flew over our heads on April 15, I knew there was war . That there is no safe place anymore because there is nowhere to hide from bombs.”

The Valais man and his wife barricaded themselves in their home in the Sudanese capital for days: “We saw houses being looted, shots fired and sexual violence taking place. It would have been too dangerous to leave the house.” Fortunately, they had enough water and food in the house.

Belgians and Germans take care of each other

As Noez described to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, the communication network worked surprisingly well despite the acts of war. The Belgian authorities regularly contacted him. Noez is a Swiss-Belgian dual national. “They called again and again to inquire about the current situation,” said the adviser to non-governmental organizations. And the German embassy, ​​where his wife works, “worked around the clock to facilitate an evacuation.”

But not the Swiss. As the man reported, he did not receive a message from the FDFA until the evening of April 18 – three days after the war escalated. The Swiss embassy is “only partially functional”, the counters are closed until further notice, an email said. “Switzerland has limited or no options to provide assistance in emergency situations due to the difficult security situation.”

Switzerland was missing

Nevertheless, recipients of the mail were advised to notify the FDFA of their whereabouts. “I did that, but then I didn’t hear anything for days,” Noez can say. “Switzerland was quite absent from this crisis.”

Swiss embassy staff and their relatives fared better. They could be flown out – but only with the help of the French. When they arrived in Bern on Tuesday and the Swiss ambassador to Sudan, Christian Winter, reported on his experiences, his story was also impressive.

“Unsafe, yes dangerous”

But of course not all of them found a place in a European machine. Numerous Swiss could not be flown out. The leader of the Mitte party does not want to accept that just like that: “It is therefore clear to me that the FDFA needs a strategy to deal with events like this.” Currently, Ignazio Cassis’s (62) foreign department simply seems to trust that “other countries will quickly and unconditionally assist us and solve our problems”. – “I consider this unsafe, even dangerous,” says Philipp Matthias Bregy.

Source:Blick