South Africa evacuates citizens safely

The situation in Khartoum, which turned into a warzone within days, was described as an emotional rollercoaster after the evacuation of most South Africans stuck in Sudan.

The week-long clashes between the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army have developed into a civil war that has left hundreds killed and thousands injured.

Department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) spokesperson Clayson Monyela confirmed two buses transporting South Africans have safely arrived at the Egyptian border.

“We have officials from the South African Embassy in Egypt to receive them and facilitate their entry into Egypt. The government will pay for their flights back to South Africa,” he said.

Monyela said 12 more nationals were expected to leave Sudan soon.

“With this, everyone we know of was accounted for,” he said.

Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said the organisation worked with Dirco, intelligence services, State Security Agency personnel and South Africans on the ground to secure two buses paid for by the government to transport 38 South Africans (including all the diplomatic staff) and seven Angolans from Khartoum to Egypt on Monday.

“There were only two checkpoints outside Khartoum; the rest of the journey was uneventful. Around midnight they stopped for meals and drinks and then parked close to the Egypt border to rest and made their way to the border by 5am,” he said.

Sooliman described the Sudan evacuation as a rollercoaster of fear, anxiety, terror, uncertainty, panic and sadness for South Africans, foreign nationals and local inhabitants caught up in the Sudan civil war.

He said people had mixed emotions about leaving their homes, workplaces, friends and colleagues behind as they watched a country rapidly self-destruct.

“Two pet Scottish terriers didn’t make the trip and the sadness was evident in the owner’s eyes when they saw their luggage without the dogs. This was very emotional for the owner,” he said.

Sooliman said it was later discovered four South Africans did not make it to the pickup point after the network collapsed and the buses left for Cairo. “We are aware of six South Africans who made it to Port Sudan, three to Djibouti, and two who have opted not to leave and one person near a mine somewhere still deciding what to do. We think some South Africans were in South Sudan.”

Gift of the Givers arranged a third bus to pick up the four South Africans left behind and the two dogs, said Sooliman.