Sudan conflict: Scores of South Africans attempt to flee
JOHANNESBURG - Ash Ramraj watched the fighting creep closer and closer. Soon the bombs were exploding on the street opposite of the hotel where the South African businessman was staying in Khartoum.
What he could see from his hotel room he posted on Facebook.
His messages captured the fear and sense of hopelessness that the 77 South Africans caught in the middle of the fighting between the Sudanese army and The Rapid Support Forces have felt over the last two weeks.
On day two of the fighting, Ramraj wrote: “24 hours of non-stop fighting. Heavy gunfire and bombs all through last night and escalated rapidly early parts of this morning and still going on. Airport locked down, no way out. Hope it ends soon as supplies run out.”
In another post he wrote: “Supplies are now running very low and urgent assistance is needed for the people of Sudan. Not much can be done immediately as the airport is on lockdown, roads are too dangerous to travel on. We have to wait this out, for how much longer nobody knows.
“Once this is over, my plea is to get Humanitarian Aid for the poor hungry people.
“Safe for now.”
On Friday, Ramraj was able to say he was leaving the war-torn city of Khartoum.
“We scheduled to leave the hotel at 3am, take off at 9am and land in Nairobi at 4pm, stay over. Leave Sunday 3am and our eta Jhb 11am. Airport to be confirmed,” he wrote.
Rescue operations to bring South Africans home began this week. The mission involved the South African government and aid organisation Gift of the Givers.
For many it has been a harrowing journey out of the country, plagued by last minute changes to destinations and border post bureaucracy.
“The anxious passengers are tormented by delays as gunfire and shelling are heard throughout the city,” wrote the founder of Gift of the Givers, Imtiaz Sooliman, of the operation yesterday.
“There's new logistics as the diplomats have to change direction from Argeen to Ashkate, which is on the opposite side of the Nile River. Egyptian rules, regulations, bureaucracy, red tape and who knows what, significantly delay the process.”
He told how exhausted South African diplomatic staff had to make a dash to Ashkate to assist eight South Africans who had been held at the border because they did not have any travel documents.
One South African woman was told by border officials that her husband and daughter, who are US citizens, and have no passports, would not be able to cross without US consular support.
“If the lady stays, and the SA diplomats leave, she is trapped, if she leaves and the USA Consular support doesn't arrive, she is separated from her family, who knows for how long”, Sooliman wrote.
In the meantime she and the others have to wait in 40 degree Celsius heat with little food, water and shelter.
On Friday, Sooliman said that diplomats boarded the 5am ferry across the Nile. They had to cross to the Sudanese side to make contact with the South Africans. Part of the mission was to also bring back two Scottish terriers that a South African family had to abandon when they left on Monday.
In a media statement, the Department of International Relations Cooperation confirmed that two buses had been paid for by the South African government but had no updates on the latest situation.
It said: “Facilitating travel passes for those who had left without passports delayed entry into Egypt and other countries.
“We are also grateful for the cooperation of the foreign ministries of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who are working with us to ensure entry of people without the necessary papers for normal and regular entry into their countries.”
Many relatives in South Africa are now anxiously waiting for their loved ones to arrive after their ordeal in Sudan.
Expected back on Sunday are teachers Demi van der Westhuizen and Andre Blerk.
Their families had started a campaign to bring them home.
Attempts to reach Van der Westhuizen by cellphone were unsuccessful, but family friend and activist Lucinda Evans said they were outraged at the South African government’s slow response in rescuing citizens from the mayhem.
“Our patriots are trapped there and this has shown the disappointing behaviour of the South African government.
“At this point we understand that Demi and Andre are on their way to Cairo and are expected to arrive in South Africa on Sunday,” Evans said.