After embarking on a perilous escape through military checkpoints and continuing clashes, British nationals evacuated from Sudan have spoken of their nightmare ordeals.
More than 300 Britons made the dangerous journey to the Wadi Seidna airbase north of Khartoum in the hope of boarding a rescue flight out of Sudan to Cyprus.
Women and small children, including babies in prams, were among those who arrived at Stansted airport on Wednesday afternoon after escaping the conflict during a fragile ceasefire.
A man who arrived on the first flight spoke of his desperation to leave Khartoum, which he described as a “ghost city”.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to be back. It’s been a nightmare. We’ve never seen anything like it before,” said the man, who did not give his name. “I was in the middle of the conflict. There was bombing and shelling, the house next to us was shelled. It was like a Bond movie.
“We are very grateful to the British servicemen and women who risked their lives to come to Sudan and help us out. There are more people stranded there and I think there should be more awareness to those stranded. We were very lucky but not everyone was as lucky we are.”
A British-Sudanese father-of-three, who lived in Toxteth in Liverpool, Merseyside, for 16 years, said he was spotted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on his way to the airbase.
Munzir Salman said: “They spotted us four times but because they saw I had children they let us go.”
The 37-year-old, who has dual citizenship, embarked on the dangerous journey after his home in Khartoum was caught in the middle of a gunfight.
Salman, who was speaking while he and his children waited to fly to the UK via Larnaca, Cyprus, said: “It was horrendous and, unfortunately, it’s not the first time I’ve had gunshots around me. I’m a single father of three kids so I had to stay calm for them. I had to tell them it was like a game and told them it was like a hide-and-seek game.”
Some families made the dangerous journey to the airbase only to be told they were not eligible.
Babiker Mohamed, a British citizen, who was speaking from his home in Stoke-on-Trent, told how his wife, Gayda, 35, and their two sons, aged 10 and six, faced a five-hour journey to the airbase. But they were not allowed to board the evacuation flight because he was not with them.
Mohamed said his family have valid visas to enter the UK but they were told that they had to have a British passport holder with them in order to be eligible for the RAF flight.
Only British passport holders and their immediate family members who are non-visa nationals or those with existing UK entry clearance are eligible, the government has said.
The 47-year-old taxi driver said: “I spoke to the Foreign Office and they told me that if my family manage to get to the evacuation point they will get on the plane.
“It took my family so long to get there because of the fighting on the street. My wife even considered giving someone her wedding ring to take her there safely. Instead, she paid someone £100. But when they got there, they were told they are not allowed because there is no British passport holder with them.
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“My wife said she can’t leave the airfield because she has no money to get any kind of transport and she feels like the safest place is the military base. I’m worried now just thinking about the worst things that could happen to them. If she goes back out on to the streets anything could happen to her, including rape and murder.”
Dr Nadia Baasher, who works in paediatric emergency medicine in London and is a representative of the Sudanese Junior Doctors Association UK, said 75 NHS colleagues are stranded in Sudan. She said there was confusion around who was eligible for the rescue flight, but that some people were making their way to the airbase anyway.
She said: “Some of them are British nationals, others are Sudanese nationals who have biometric residency and have been working in the NHS for a number of years. The issue is the lack of clarity around who can be evacuated.
“We are quite upset about the fact that these are doctors who work very hard for the NHS, they have seen the NHS through a pandemic – some of them are surgeons, medics, A&E doctors, paediatricians – and we would assume and expect that they would be evacuated along with their colleagues.”
Tarig Babikir, 42, who used to live in Coventry, said he was going to take a four-hour walk alone to get to the airbase from Khartoum.
He said: “I’m going to go through national army checkpoints and paramilitary checkpoints, and most likely I’m going to encounter some armed gangs as well. I’m carrying no cash as you can get robbed on the streets, and I’m going to hide my cell phone.”
Babikir’s Ukrainian mother and Sudanese father both have expired UK visas, so he said he would have to leave them behind with other relatives.
He said: “My dad is recovering from a stroke, but the best option right now is to leave and I will probably come back in a month’s time. It’s complete anarchy right now, complete chaos. Anyone can rob you, anyone can shoot you.”
