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Sunday, 29 May 2022

Russia-Ukraine war could mean another, messier refugee crisis. Plus: Egypt isn’t going to have shuttle flights to 2022 World Cup

The war in Ukraine could trigger a “more messy” refugee crisis — particularly as food shortages push mns into hunger or famine. Mns of people could be forcibly displaced in an imminent refugee crisis that would be more reminiscent of the 2015-2016 immigration wave from Syria, Margaritis Schinas, the European Union’s commissioner in charge of migration, told Bloomberg.

His comments come as, for the first time on record, the number of people forcibly displaced globally has topped 100 mn, according to the UN’s refugee agency, on the back of conflicts and violence worldwide. These include Ukraine, with 6.7 mn refugees so far, and Syria with at least 5.7 mn registered refugees, according to UN figures. This also includes refugees from Ethiopia, Afghanistan and others. This record-high figure must “serve as a wake-up call” for more action to promote peace, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Andreas Kluth writes for Bloomberg.

Regional shuttle flights for World Cup attendees: Over 180 daily regional shuttle flights will be operated by Gulf airliners for the FIFA World Cup 2022 hosted by Qatar in November, Reuters quotes Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker as saying. Flights are set to be operated by Oman Air, Kuwait Airways, Saudia, and UAE budget airline Fly Dubai, he said, adding that the UAE’s Etihad and Air Arabia might possibly join the plan.

But what about us? Al Baker did not mention shuttle flights picking up Egyptian travel goers. We’ve also yet to hear of any offers and packages by Egyptair for the World Cup. Our local airline had a similar package for Russia 2018, but Egypt had been playing at the time.

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