How SA got dozens of citizens out of Sudan
● Amid ‘Armageddon-like’ scenes, 38 of the 77 trapped South Africans left war-ravaged Khartoum by bus on Monday
While a fragile 72-hour ceasefire was called between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the SA government seized the opportunity to bus to safety about half of its citizens trapped in the war-torn country.
Reports indicate that 38 South Africans left Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, at about midday on Monday after boarding two buses to Egypt.
The vehicles were hired by the SA government.
The South Africans arrived at the Sudan-Egypt border early yesterday, but were reportedly still on Sudanese soil by midday.
International relations and co-operation spokesperson Clayson Monyela confirmed that citizens and embassy staff had left Khartoum, but said that the exact logistics were being kept under wraps for security reasons.
He confirmed a total 77 of South Africans were in Sudan, but it was unclear where the remaining 39 were.
Presumably, many live outside the capital.
Reports indicate that before the official evacuation, six other South Africans had made it safely back to Port Sudan, three to Djibouti and three more were undecided about whether they would be evacuating.
Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF started on April 13, and more than 420 people have since lost their lives.
A South African family who made the 900km journey to the Egyptian border by bus from Khartoum was Gqeberha-born Ilse Young, along with her husband and three-yearold twins.
“We are currently at the border post and it looks like we are going to be stuck here for a while.
“It’s chaos here,” Young said yesterday. Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers, which has worked closely with various government departments to secure safe transport for South Africans, as well as other foreign nationals, said the last couple of days had been fraught with challenges as they battled to get people to safety.
“The challenges on the ground were numerous and included inaccessibility, collapsing networks, no airtime, electricity cut-offs, shortage of money, fuel, food and water, not to mention the emotional and psychological trauma of an all-out war,” Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said.
He said the situation on the ground was like “Armageddon”.
“As South Africans tried to move across barriers and frontlines to ‘safer’ zones, some witnessed over 70 bodies in the street, destroyed buildings and infrastructure, and even watched as young people were being shot.
“We pray for the safety of all civilians.”
He said the buses that left Khartoum on Monday passed through two checkpoints and managed to make their way to the Egyptian border at about 5am yesterday.
One distraught family had to leave behind their two Scottish Terriers, but efforts were ongoing to reunite the family with their pets.
Sooliman said four people were left behind when the buses made their final departure for Egypt due to the total collapse of telecommunication networks.
“Gift of the Givers has arranged a third bus for the four South Africans left behind.
It was set to depart at about noon yesterday.
Sooliman said the organisation had been inundated with requests from foreign governments to assist with the evacuation of their citizens.
He said in addition to the 38 South Africans who left Khartoum on Monday, there were also seven Angolan nationals, and calls had been made for assistance to move nine Brazilians, four Filipinos, two Americans and a Palestinian family.
“There has been intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic engagements with various governments, including with the US consul-general late last night, for citizens to enter various countries unhindered as many did not have passports or entry visas.
“This has been a great exercise of government and civil society working side by side in the interest of South Africans outside the country. We need to apply that model inside the country,” Sooliman said.