Sudanese volunteers working to help desperate civilians escape vicious in-fighting in Khartoum have claimed that foreigners caught attempting to flee the warzone have become targets. It has been claimed the “untrained” Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group are viewing white people from the west with suspicion. That’s according to a volunteer who is helping victims to safety who had an exclusive chat with Express.co.uk.
Several nations, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, have already started evacuating their citizens and diplomats from the country’s capital.
On Sunday, the UK government reported that it conducted “a complex and rapid” mission to airlift its diplomats and their families out of the country.
But it’s thought thousands of British citizens could be stranded in the war-torn African nation with “looting and gunfire” serving as a terrifying backdrop. And it has been claimed British nationals waiting for answers on what to do next should expect “no assurances”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is currently “exploring every option” to get people out of harm’s way and back home, but details of how this will work are yet to emerge.
A source familiar with evacuation efforts has told the Express: “It’s very dangerous for foreigners to go out. RSF doesn’t know how to deal with [foreigners] especially if they’re white.
“The militias are not well trained so they will think they’re spies.” Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source shared accounts of terrible conditions civilians trapped in the Sudanese capital.
People who have managed to escape from the worst-affected parts of the city have reported needing to beg RSF soldiers to be allowed to leave.
During dangerous evacuations, civilians must pass through several checkpoints, described as often less than one kilometre apart where at any point “you could be sent back, have your car stolen, or shot”.
Rampaging gangs of RSF fighters are also reported to be “all over the place, randomly breaking into people’s homes”.
Some British citizens have expressed feelings of being abandoned after diplomats were evacuated without them, and have taken it upon themselves to organise risky private evacuations.
The Express has heard troubling accounts of food products running dangerously low in conflict-hit parts of Khartoum, with shops closed leaving residents with no means of obtaining crucial supplies.
The organiser of evacuations, who is not being named for security reasons, warned that this worsening situation could see some trapped families without electricity, food or water – which means staying put is simply not an option
They told Express.co.uk: “Our area doesn’t have electricity and water since the start of the war besides there’s no grocery shop opening.
“So it depends on the family if they have the supply they can stay put but eventually they will run out of stock and they need to get out.”
Meanwhile, Tobias Ellwood MP, who serves as the head of the Defence Committee in the House of Commons, has urged for the development of a well-defined strategy to evacuate British passport holders from Sudan.