The family of Ash Ramraj, a Durban-based businessman who is among South Africans desperately trying to leave the Sudanese capital Khartoum, is putting their faith in the joint efforts between the South African government and humanitarian aid organisation, Gift of the Givers.
Ramraj is one of nearly 77 South Africans returning home after deadly fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group, earlier this month.
More than 400 people have since died.
Ramraj arrived at Khartoum in Sudan on March 11th.
His family says HE was excited to expand his automotive business operations in North Africa.
Unfortunately, things took an unexpected twist.
Ramraj, like many other people, was left stranded when deadly violence broke out between the military forces and paramilitary rapid support forces.
His daughter Akira said before the network connectivity in Sudan went down, her father was running out of food and other supplies.
“When we were able to contact him it was an incredibly scary thought because all you could hear was gunshots and bombs going off in the background. Since then, we have been in contact with the government and Gift of the Givers and they have informed us that all South Africans will be meeting at a safe compound where they will be taken by bus to Aswan and once, they arrive in Aswan, there will be planes waiting for them to bring them back to South Africa. It is a scary journey that they are about to embark on all we can do right now is wait as there is no connectivity for him to reach out to us and let us know what is happening.”
Gift of the Givers’ Dr Imtiaz Sooliman says the mission is likely to have a number of challenges, when the group journeys through war-torn Sudan to the safest border gate.
Sooliman says, “The distance that we must travel to get out of Khartoum to port Sudan is 850kms to Egypt another 900kms. As we speak the first group are leaving now on a bus travelling to Egypt. Evacuation has been extremely difficult accessing buses has been almost impossible bringing buses from outside doesn’t help because no company wants to enter Sudan. Fortunately working together, intelligent services, DIRCO, Gift of the Givers, Sudanese companies and South Africans and Sudan have managed to arrange the first two buses and we have the option of two other buses but to pay is a problem.”
VIDEO: Poor network coverage in Sudan
Spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, Clayson Monyela echoed the safety concerns around the evacuation process.
“We have noted that South Africans that are in Sudan are complaining about little to no information and updates regarding the evacuation plan. Our team has run out of battery power because there is no electricity, there is poor network coverage. However, there is one particular phone that they have managed to recharge and will be providing updates to the 77 South Africans that we know of, who we are prioritising to evacuate out of Sudan.”
Monyela adds, “The airport remains closed the fighting continues and this is why we continue to call for a ceasefire to allow for safe passage to those who want to get out and to allow humanitarian aid. Because the bigger message is for the different parties to give peace a chance and allow negations mediated by the international community to resolve the problems that are at play in Sudan.”
Monyela says staff at the South African embassy in Sudan is also part of the evacuation plans, a very delicate operation, due to the ongoing fighting in that country.
