IMPACT ON TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

STUDENTS GOING HOME

Govt flies T&T students out of war-torn Georgia

GOING HOME: Safia Kadir, left, and Nanyamka Cudjoe

All three Trinidad and Tobago university students who were in Georgia when the Eastern European state was partly invaded by Russia on Monday were set to begin their journey home Tuesday.

The three students — Safia Kadir, 20, Nanyamka Cudjoe, 20, and Damion Sinanan — are attending the Tbilisi State Medical University in the Georgia capital, Tbilisi, on a scholarship funded by the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs.

They had called on the Government for assistance to get out of Georgia on Monday.

They were all scheduled to leave Georgia on the only international flight at 4 p.m. Tuesday (midnight Georgia time) to begin the first leg of their journey home.

Kadir and Cudjoe were the first to arrive at the airport, where the flight was scheduled to depart for France.

The airport is close to the Tbilisi International Airport, which remained closed.

"Right now we are in the airport. There is a flight to France and then from France to London and then from London to Trinidad," Kadir said in an interview with the Express at 10 a.m. (6 p.m. Georgia time).

Sinanan arrived at the airport several hours later.

At 5.30 p.m., however, Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said that there was no confirmation that the three students had left Georgia.

"I know that for a fact when I spoke to the French official at the airport, they had allotted a spot for him (Sinanan) and he did in fact get to the airport and the three of them were together, waiting to board the flight," Gopee-Scoon said.

She did not disclose the details of the price of the tickets for the three students, which Kadir’s father, Jamaludin, had estimated would cost $18,000 each.

"We are not looking at money at this point. It is not a matter of cost. We are doing all we can to ensure they return home," Gopee-Scoon said.

Gopee-Scoon said that an official from the Trinidad embassy in Brussels, Belgium, was on his way to France to meet with Kadir and Cudjoe to ensure they got their flight to London, following which officials at the Trinidad High Commission in London would then ensure they got on the flight to Trinidad.

As for Cudjoe, who is from Tobago, Gopee-Scoon said, "She is going to Tobago to meet her mother. We will get her on a flight to Tobago."

Sinanan had told the Express that he did not want to leave unless the Government could assure him the students would be able to return to Georgia once the situation there returns to normal.

Sinanan was convinced that a European Union sponsored cease-fire agreement Russia agreed to sign, through the intervention of France’s President Nicholas Sarkozy, would bring an end to its conflict with Georgia which saw fierce fighting in the areas close to what has been identified as the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The Georgian government, however, claimed Russian forces continued attacks in certain parts of Georgia near to South Ossetia but not anywhere close to Tbilisi.

"We have all our belongings here in Tbilisi. We will need to come back sometime soon. Will the Trinidadian government provide the flight (back) for us or not?" Sinanan said.

Gopee-Scoon subsequently spoke with Sinanan and that conversation may have been a key factor in his decision to change his mind about staying in Georgia.

"His concerns were, in fact, that he would not be able to get back to school and I gave him the assurance that we would assess every case individually and he would have nothing to worry about," Gopee-Scoon said.

In total, there were six Trinidad and Tobago students in Georgia when Russia began taking military action in South Ossetia late last week.

Three of the students, who the Foreign Affairs Ministry was unable to identify, returned home last week.

(Trinidadian Express)