Kenyans in Sudan appalled by the state's indifference to their plight

Fleeing families, among them several Kenyans, board a French Navy ship at Port Sudan to Jeddah on April 27, 2023. [Courtesy, Standard] Kenyan living in Sudan have expressed their disappointment on how the embassy had by Tuesday evening handled their evacuation from Khartoum during the ongoing fighting. The war between the Sudan army led by General Abdel Fattah al- Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo aka Hemedti, who commands the heavily armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has so far claimed more than 400 lives most of them in the heavily populated capital city. On Monday, desperate stranded Kenyans claimed the ambassador asked people to move to the embassy in the morning for possible evacuation but it was later claimed they were told to return to their homes late in the evening. "We do not know what the problem is. Is that they cannot get transport or they are having other challenges we are not being told? Asked a woman stranded outside the embassy on Monday, as she complained it was getting increasingly difficult to get food and water. Other Kenyans interviewed by media stations spoke from the streets with their families saying they had nowhere to go after landlords asked them to move to safer places. "The embassy has continuously given us empty promises saying we are coming to help evacuate you but we are here exposed to bombs and bullets as thousands of students and families from other African countries are evacuated," said a young man who had moved to a university compound with his family. A student also expressed bitterness that the Kenyan embassy had by Tuesday, almost a week after the war began not assisted in any evacuation of students or families.She lamented that the embassy had warned students who decided to make long dangerous road trip to the South Sudan and Ethiopia borders that they were doing it at their own risk. "Those picked by the Kenyan government in South Sudan and flown to Nairobi had been told that whatever happened to them, the embassy would not take responsibility but they left us here where many families and small children have since joined us," she said. On Monday night, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale was at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to receive 39 students, 19 among them Kenyans who managed to find their way into Southern Sudan He said they had been flown by Kenya Airforce from South Sudan and more Kenyans are scheduled to be airlifted back home because the government is committed to ensuring the safe return of all Kenyans wishing to come back from Sudan. The CS assured the country that a multi-agency team had been established to execute the evacuation exercise that is informed by real time assessment because of the ever changing security situation in Khartoum and Sudan in general. "We will continue updating the country as this situation unfolds but I urge all Kenyans stranded in Sudan and their families here to continue registering through social media accounts, the hotline numbers and links shared by the State Department for Diaspora Affairs through," said Duale. Other Kenyans who managed to travel to Port Sudan in convoys organised by other countries and international non-governmental organisations since Sunday managed to cross the Red Sea to Jeddah from where they are to fly to Nairobi. Those working for various United Nations agencies left in a three-kilometre convoy led by the UN Special Representative to Sudan Volker Perthes. The convoy took 35 hours to reach the port because of logistical challenges among them allowing families and children health breaks and stoppages at bases manned by the Sudan army. Speaking via video link from Port Sudan later, Perthes told The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) the latest ceasefire in some parts of Khartoum like the Republican Place, The Khartoum International Airport and around the RSF bases was not being observed. "The pause was not fully upheld, with attacks on headquarters, attempts to gain ground, air strikes, and explosions in different areas of the capital," the told the UNSC. Perthes said he maintained contact with both generals, the army chief and his deputy-turned-rival, who commands the heavily armed RSF paramilitary. By Wednesday morning, it was estimated that about 3,000 Kenyans were still stranded in various parts of Sudan as the fighting raged on despite warring parties agreeing to the fragile 72 hour ceasefire. Amnesty International representative in Kenya Irungu Houghton hopes that the ceasefire holds so that people can be evacuated from danger and for normalcy to return in the war ravaged country. "I do hope that the ceasefire finally holds and allow passage of civilians from areas that are seriously contested because we are not just looking at a national crisis but a regional one that can become unmanageable," said Irungu. Career diplomat Erastus Mwencha also asked regional leaders to play a bigger role in creating peace to prevent further escalation of the conflict. In Africa, more than 45 South Africans were rescued on Tuesday after being stranded for more than a week. The fighting, entering a second week, has killed at least 427 people and wounded more than 3,700, according to UN agencies. It is estimated that more than 7,000 people from different nationalities have so far fled Khartoum.

Kenyans in Sudan appalled by the state's indifference to their plight

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