Race to escape
» Families still flee Sudan as ceasefire is extended » Med student: UK not doing enough to evacuate citizens
A BRITISH medical student has told of his harrowing escape from lawless, war-torn Sudan, as other desperate residents continued to flee the country yesterday.
Alaaldeen Hussin, who survived a perilous three-hour journey to the air strip being used for evacuations, also hit out at the Foreign Office saying “they could have done more”.
He and his fellow British nationals have been racing to the Wadi Seidna air base, north of the capital Khartoum, after being told by the Government to make their own way there.
Some 897 people had been flown out of the country on eight UK flights as of 4pm yesterday.
Last night, with thousands of UK citizens still thought to be in the country, Sudan’s armed forces accepted a 72-hour extension to the ceasefire, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces also agreed to the new truce.
Speaking from Cyprus’ Larnaca Airport ahead of catching a flight to the UK, Mr Hussin, 36, recalled his ordeal.
In graphic detail, he told the Mirror: “They say there’s a ceasefire but there isn’t.
“Even in the ceasefire you are still hearing missiles, you’re hearing people firing randomly. “Where I was, one street was smelling like dead bodies… We’ve seen burnt vehicles still on the street. And you see the destroyed buildings.
“We were at an army checkpoint and one of the officers told of one building, with many people dying inside and dogs coming in to eat the bodies as they had been there for a long time.”
A former chef in Oxford, Mr Hussin lived in the UK for eight years before returning to Sudan in October.
He spoke of food being scarce there. “There’s nothing to eat, absolutely nothing,” he explained.
“There were bakeries but they ran out of flour, so there’s no more bread. In Sudan we depend on flour.”
Mr Hussin, who said he managed to eat two small meals a day, added: “People were looting shops. I saw young boys with the sugar and with the oil they looted from the factories.”
The student left behind two brothers, one of whom drove him to the airfield before Mr Hussin flew to Cyprus on Wednesday.
Speaking of the Foreign Office’s efforts at leading the evacuation, he said: “They could have done more, because the journey I took from my house to the airfield was a long one – around three hours, or maybe more.
“It could have been better than this, because these people, the army or the rebel forces, if they see UN vehicles or something, they won’t do anything to that vehicle. But if they see you with a normal vehicle, they might kill you.”
Meanwhile, the UK ambassador to Sudan, Giles Lever, has been relocated to the British embassy in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and will “lead the UK’s diplomatic efforts in the region to bring fighting to an end in Sudan”, the Foreign Office said.
The power struggle between the army and Rapid Support Forces ramped up from April 15. The first ceasefire period had been due to expire at midnight last night.
You are hearing missiles and people firing randomly
ALAALDEEN HUSSIN ON LIFE AMID THE ‘CEASEFIRE’