As nearly 1000 tourists from Ukraine, said to be frozen in Zanzibar, following ongoing Russian attacks onto their country, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Kenya flies to the Islands in efforts to assist them leave the country.
Zanzibar’s Head of State, President Hussein Mwinyi has affirmed that his government has received a request for help from nearly 1000 Ukrainians who can no longer stay at the semi-autonomous archipelago because they have run out of funds and cannot go back to their country because it is currently at war with Russia.
The Ukrainian airspace has been closed to all civilian flights following Russia’s military action in the country.
Due to that, the Government of Zanzibar is negotiating with the Ukraine Embassy, based in Nairobi, Kenya to see how the Ukrainians in the Tanzanian Isles can be assisted to get back home, though essentially the tourists would rather fly to Poland, instead of their own country as of now.
The Zanzibar Minister for Tourism, Leyla Mohammed is assuring here that, the Ukrainian visitors are being provided with all necessary services in the Island.
Many of the Ukranians in Tanzania had already completed their itineraries with their Visa validity ending.
The Ukrainians are being hosted at special hotels in Zanzibar free-of-charge.
They were supposed to have already returned home but due to the current situation in Eastern Europe, the Ukrainians got stuck in the Isles. However, authorities here continue to assist them diplomatically.
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Kenya, Andrii Pravednyk flies to Zanzibar to meet his country’s citizens as well as discussing with the Isles officials on better ways of getting the more than one tourists from Tanzania, taking them to Poland.
Ukrainians, Russians and Polish visitors have of late been frequenting the Isles sampling Zanzibar’s beach tourism packages.
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