UAE-based Sudanese fear violent clashes will escalate

Airports are closed, leaving little opportunity to evacuate family and friends from homeland, say residents

Smoke dominates the skyline of eastern Khartoum as fear grips the city after three days of violence. AFP

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Sudanese citizens in the UAE fear clashes that have broken out in Khartoum will escalate into a full-blown conflict and lead to a “catastrophic” future.

Fighting has spread to every corner of Khartoum, where the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are battling for control of airfields and military bases.

At least 96 civilians have been killed and 365 injured in the violence since Saturday, according to an independent medical group associated with Sudan’s pro-democracy movement.

As the fighting continues to rage, Sudanese citizens in the UAE say they are afraid that it will develop into a civil war scenario similar that of Yemen or Syria and lead to chaos throughout the country.

Awad Mustafa, 41, a Sudanese who lives in Dubai and a former journalist with The National, said his mother, two sisters and two brothers are at home in Khartoum’s adjoining city of Omdurman. He revealed a family friend had been killed in the gunfire.

“It is a devastating blow to Sudan,” he told The National. “My family is in Omdurman city and they hear nearby gunfire and jets. The situation is absolutely catastrophic.

“Family friends had their daughter, a doctor, killed by a stray shot at her home in Khartoum.

“Her mother was injured by a bullet to her shoulder. She was young and one of the first victims in this chaos.”

Mr Mustafa said that although his family members have managed to stay safe, much uncertainty surrounds the days ahead.

“My niece was in school when the clashes happened as it is exam time,” he said. “Her father managed to return her safely.

“My family gathered at my mother’s house and they managed to go to a supermarket to get food supplies but nobody knows what will happen tomorrow.”

Mr Mustafa, editor of regional security publication Defence and Security Middle East in Dubai, said his country has turned into a battlefield.

“Nobody is controlling Khartoum until now,” he said. “It is the first time in Sudan’s history to have an open war in Khartoum. It is gang war on the doorsteps of civilian people.”

Mr Mustafa said he wanted to bring his family to Dubai until the situation in Khartoum was calm but the airports are currently closed.

“There are no operating airports to get them out,” he said. “I call them every two to three hours. They still have electricity but most of the areas in Sudan have a shortage.

“We have friends and relatives stuck in Khartoum who can’t leave because the clashes are taking place near them and armed men from the army are roaming around with weapons.”

He said his family remained hopeful that the situation would de-escalate after watching a TV interview from Abu Dhabi with Sudan's former civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, who expressed optimism that an amicable resolution could be found.

“They felt hope to end the situation peacefully after Hamdok’s interview but they were awake all night because of the sounds of explosions and bullets,” he said of his family.

The fighting has followed weeks of tension between the army, led by military ruler Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the RSF, a powerful paramilitary group with roots in the feared Janjaweed militia that fought on the government’s side in Darfur in the early 2000s.

For a country that had only recently begun to emerge from international isolation, there is tangible fear the clashes could turn into a full-scale conflict.

“We were expecting something will be happening but not in this way,” Sudanese Ahmed Saeed, 33, a Sharjah resident who works in the government sector, told The National.

“Street fighting, people fearing for their lives and staying at home without electricity … it is total chaos.

“My sister is living in Khartoum with her two daughters and husband. They didn’t sleep because of the fight and don’t know what to do or where to go.

“I’m afraid this will go the way of Syria and Yemen.”

Nora Othman, 39, who lives in Dubai, says her family in Khartoum are in a terrible situation as explosions and gunfire are rattled around their neighbourhood.

“My nephew and niece are not eating because of fear and the sound of air strikes,” said Ms Othman, “with no electricity and the internet is switching off and on all the time.

“They have food for the moment but it is a danger to go out and the nearby supermarkets are closed.”