Emídio Sousa was speaking to journalists at the Lisbon Military Aerodrome on 6 March, when a TAP plane chartered by the Portuguese State landed with 147 repatriated individuals from this region, of whom 139 were Portuguese.

Earlier, a military plane with 39 passengers had landed at around 5 am at the same airport as part of a repatriation operation by the Portuguese authorities

According to Emídio Sousa, there are two distinct situations involving Portuguese people in this region: "The residents, with most wanting to stay there, feel safe and the air defence systems of the countries where they are functioning well" and "the travelers, who were caught in a situation, often even requiring a plane transfer, and these want to come back."

The Secretary of State said that the operation has been organised for about a week and that maximum secrecy has always been maintained for security reasons.

"We did all this with the utmost secrecy and prudence and decided to only communicate when people were arriving, and we already knew they were in the air," he said.

He continued: "We are working on a possible new flight to another area, where there are also many Portuguese who have expressed this interest to us."

The Portuguese State has already joined the European solidarity mechanism for repatriation, having today transported eight citizens of nationalities other than Portuguese, and is now considering two options to bring back more Portuguese who want to return: A Portuguese flight or including Portuguese citizens on other European flights."