Sudan: As embassies evacuate staff, those left behind search for options

As foreign embassies evacuate their staff and citizens from Sudan, millions of Sudanese people have been left desperately contemplating their options, as the conflict shows no signs of abating.

More than 400 people have been killed since fighting began on April 15th in the north African country. Sudan’s army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is battling against paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is commonly known as Hemedti. The two generals were previously allies, who carried out a coup together in late 2021, though tensions between them have long been clear.

The conflict is devastating for Sudanese civilians, who have long been hoping for a transition to civilian rule following the ousting of long-standing dictator Omar al-Bashir four years ago.

Despite widespread problems getting phone data, electricity and connecting to the internet, Sudanese citizens have continued to share appeals for help online, along with information about escape routes and missing people.

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Concerns are growing that the evacuation of foreign diplomats from the capital Khartoum will hamper the international response or monitoring of however this conflict develops. The exodus of foreign embassy staff has also endangered some Sudanese citizens, including those who had applied for visas prior to the conflict and have not been given back their passports, preventing them from leaving the country.

“Mixed feelings on diplomats fleeing,” tweeted Mukesh Kapila, who said his “abiding regret” as the United Nations coordinator in Sudan in 2003 and 2004 was “bowing to intense New York HQ pressure to withdraw all my staff for security reasons from Darfur.” He said that he later returned to find that a “genocide had unfolded under averted gaze.”

Nicholas Coughlan, who worked as a Canadian diplomat in South Sudan, agreed, saying that it is an ethical dilemma, and “the reality is that it’s always more difficult and time-consuming to go back in than to come out”.

“I am in a safe place outside the Sudan. I am very grateful to all those who took part in the evacuation of me and my two colleagues. But it fills me with immense sadness that I had to leave so many Sudanese colleagues and friends behind,” tweeted Norwegian ambassador to Sudan Endre Stiansen.

“I fear for their future, because at present weapons and narrow interests carry more weight than values and words. Most scenarios appear bad. But if the interest of the people is put first [and] drivers of conflict are addressed properly, it is possible to start to rebuild.”

On Sunday a Sudanese woman who escaped the fighting by land to Egypt said her family paid about 40,000 Sudanese pounds (€60) per person to get a bus, though that price has quadrupled since, to 160,000 pounds per person. She said the 13-hour drive to the border involved crossing checkpoints manned by both the Sudanese army and the RSF. Women, children and men over the age of 50 are allowed into Egypt without a visa, she said, but younger men have to stay behind and apply for one. “It is a long, scary and very tiring trip but well worth it I think,” she tweeted.

An estimated 10,000 people have crossed Sudan’s border to South Sudan, officials there have said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross continues to call for freedom of movement for their staff and supplies. Other international aid agencies, including Irish organisations Goal and Concern, have suspended their operations in Sudan.