Somali passports not used by Sudanese ISIS recruits: embassy
September 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Somali embassy in Khartoum vehemently denied press reports which claimed that the most recent batch of Sudanese students sneaked out of the country using Somali passports.
A statement signed by the Somali ambassador in Khartoum Mohammed Abdullah Agas on Wednesday, described these reports as “untrue” and “lacking credibility”.
The envoy said that Somali passports are among the most secure in the world and tamper resistant.
Khartoum newspapers reported this week that a group of four female students including twin sisters left for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and flew to Turkey from there.
According to the reports, names of the female students were among the list of the departing passengers on the al-Arabiya airlines heading to Istanbul via Sharjah, saying that security officers at Sharjah airport sought to stop them but to no avail.
A small but stubbornly steady stream of Sudanese students have been flocking to join ISIS this year including the daughter of a senior diplomat.
A big chunk of the recruits were from the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) and are holders of western passports.
The manner by which these students were persuaded to join ISIS and ease of their departure from the country remains a mystery.
Last June, several social media websites circulated statements attributed to the foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadiq in which he confirmed that his daughter left Khartoum without completing travel requirements, alluding to complicity of unspecified parties in helping students run off to join ISIS.
Al-Sadiq, accused unnamed bodies of helping his daughter and other students to join the extremist group, saying “there are some people who [forced her] to leave”.
Several WhatsApp groups have circulated text messages alleging that al-Sadiq told a number of journalists at Khartoum airport that unnamed bodies pay large bribes to facilitate departure of students seeking to travel to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS.
He stressed that the students were not screened per the routine procedures for each person departing the country, saying he identified his daughter from the security camera at the airport.
Al-Sadiq further emphasized that his daughter’s name was not on the list of departing passengers.
Sudan’s foreign ministry later denied the authenticity of these statements attributed to its spokesperson.
(ST)