Sudanese brave harrowing desert journeys to safety in Egypt

Cairo, Egypt (AFP):

As Sudan has descended into chaos, hundreds of families are heading for Egypt on bumpy and harrowing 1,000-kilometre road trips through the desert, braving military checkpoints along the way.

Some of those who have made it across the Egyptian border to safety spoke of their fears as the cramped buses, with infants and elderly people on board, sped through the night along pitch-black and potholed roads.

Most of the refugees left with few belongings, food, water or cash on the treacherous journeys, having paid small fortunes for scarce bus tickets out of the war zone amid crippling fuel shortages.

The most dangerous part, said one man, was just to get to the bus in Khartoum, a city of five million that has been rocked by heavy fighting between army and paramilitary forces including artillery and air strikes.

“We crossed 25 checkpoints just to get to the bus station at the edge of Khartoum,” said the man, who asked not be named citing security concerns.

He had spent the previous day and sleepless night frantically organising everything for his family, holed up at their home in the capital under the noise of a steady barrage of gunfire.

Next came an excruciating wait until the 45-seat bus was finally full enough to leave Khartoum, at a time fighters and looters have been roaming the city.

During the nail-biting wait, the price of a seat more than tripled from $115 to $400 per person, the equivalent of a civil servant’s monthly salary.

Even when full, “some buses don’t leave for an entire day”, the man said, as the drivers scramble for fuel that has become “eight times more expensive” since the fighting began.

A three-day ceasefire declared on April 25 appeared to be largely holding, as foreign countries pushed on with mass evacuation efforts of embassy staff and citizens.

But deep fear reigned of what will come next in Sudan in the power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, a conflict that has killed over 450 people.

‘Egypt is your Second Home’

As the brutal unrest has flared in Sudan, Egyptian social media users began calling for those fleeing to be allowed in without extra paperwork.

“Egypt is your second home and you are our family,” one user insisted.

A local charity has listed emergency numbers for fresh arrivals in need of “baby formula or medical services”.

If the conflict drags on, many more are sure to come, said Cameron Hudson of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“A massive exodus of civilians” should be expected once a first lasting ceasefire takes hold, he said, warning of a scenario where “millions of people try to cross borders”.