Hundreds still stranded in war-torn Sudan

Smoke is seen rising from a neighborhood in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 15, 2023. [AP Photo]

Hundreds of Kenyans stranded in Sudan after civil war broke out in Africa's third-largest country are asking to be evacuated from the country.

Those who spoke to The Standard said they fled to neighbouring countries, while others were dumped on the Ethiopian and Sudanese borders on Wednesday evening by the Kenyan government after they protested demanding to be evacuated.

They said that the government had not communicated with them despite announcing that it had evacuated Kenyans from Sudan and they have been staying at the embassy since the civil war started.

"There was no government assistance or communication until Wednesday when we got a bus or buses, which brought us to the Galaba border between Ethiopia and Sudan. Remember we had to send out videos appealing for help," a Kenyan student in Sudan said.

She said the students, whom the government claims to have airlifted from Ethiopia, were picked up in Juba, South Sudan.

"It is not good for the government to lie to Kenyans that it evacuated people from South Sudan and play with our lives. We are suffering," another Kenyan said.

Others who spoke to The Standard from neighbouring countries said they used their means to get out of Sudan.

"I don't have anything with me, and I hope to get help from the government or good Samaritans to see my family back home in Kenya," a lady who only identified herself as Ann said.

The Kenyans said they had been camping at the embassy since the war broke out in Sudan a couple of weeks ago and were forced to protest and send out videos seeking for help.
They said they know Kenyans who were airlifted from South Sudan.

The government hired a bus on Wednesday, which dropped Kenyans in Sudan at the Galaba border, Ethiopia.

"We are hungry, our phones are going off, and we are here at the border where we are not allowed to take videos or record anything," a student at one of the universities said.

Those who were travelling reported that they spent 24 hours waiting for another bus or mode of transport to ferry them from Galaba, Ethiopia, to Kenya.

"It's very wrong how the government is treating us by picking us up in Khartoum and dropping us off here on the border between Sudan and Ethiopia," one student said.

"We even don't have any government representatives here, and there is no communication.

"Remember, some of us don't have documents, and we have to be together until we are back in Kenya in our villages," he added.