Sudan: Irish mother who escaped with her children ‘heartbroken’ as husband left behind
An Irish woman has described her dramatic escape from Sudan with her children as gunfire erupted around them – and has been left “heartbroken” as her husband remains in the country.
Mother-of-three Sarah Widaa told Sky News that she was given just over an hour’s notice to get to the French embassy for an evacuation.
She and her children were airlifted out of Sudan and arrived in Djibouti on Monday morning.
Britons among dozens of people rescued on Saudi ship – Sudan latest
Describing her escape, Ms Widaa said her husband drove the family from their home in the Kafouri area of Sudan’s capital Khartoum and on the way there was “gunfire” as she told her children in the car “to duck, get down on the floor”.
“I was afraid,” she said.
Ms Widaa said when she got to the embassy, the French “went above and beyond”.
“I felt safer,” she said. “They were armed. We were in the buses for over an hour. We left for the airbase.
“We stayed in the hangar for two hours. There was no food. There are Greeks there, Americans.”
Amid the fighting, the water supply at their home had been cut off for five days and they had to instead get it from the black market.
“We didn’t have a lot of money at home, we were worried we would get looted,” Ms Widaa said.
“It was really difficult. There’s a lot of Irish citizens still in Sudan.”
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Sudan: Who awaits evacuation?
Ms Widaa said her husband did not join them in the evacuation as he stayed to care for his father who has diabetes and is on medication.
She said she was “heartbroken” to leave them behind and asked that when her father-in-law’s medication runs out “what is he going to do?”
‘Everyone is getting desperate’
Ms Widaa said her cousin did not receive an email about the evacuation and instead went by bus to the Egyptian border, with the vehicle breaking down three times along the way.
She said the border was “crazy” with “quite a lot of Sudanese trying to get in”.
“Everyone is getting desperate,” she added.
Describing the scene she left behind in Kafouri, Ms Widaa said the day before the violence started she took her children to get ice-creams.
“Everyone was out. The same area is now pitch black,” she added.
Buildings were burnt and cars with bullets were in the middle of the street, she said.
Ms Widaa said she hopes she can go back to her home, adding: “I have my house there. My kids have friends there, school there. We were happy.”
Nadine is one of Sarah Widaa’s children
Ms Widaa’s eldest daughter, Nadine, aged nine, told Sky News that it was “scary” living in the Sudanese capital during the fighting.
She said: “We had to sleep on the floor and we’re scared of bullets coming in.
“We were watching TV and a bullet hit our window, it was so loud. I was shaking until the end of the day.”
Irish teacher says ‘shooting didn’t stop for five days’
Another Irish national, called Cathy, was also among those to be safely evacuated.
The teacher, who has two sons, lives on a school campus and said the shooting “didn’t stop for five days”.
Cathy spoke to Sky News
She said: “Our window exploded. We were under the mattress. Liam [one of her sons] said: ‘Mummy the glass hit me. It just bounced off me’.”
Cathy said she and her family managed to sneak out of the school and they eventually made it to a safe place where they were then taken to a friend’s house before being airlifted.
Read more:
UK troops fly to Sudan as govt works on evacuation plan for Britons
Why evacuating civilians is different to extracting diplomats
Which countries have evacuated their citizens?
Trapped doctor tells of ‘war zone’
Meanwhile, an NHS doctor trapped in Sudan has said he is living an “absolute nightmare” but has still had no contact with the Foreign Office.
Speaking to Sky News’s Mark Austin, Dr Ahmed said he had been working in the NHS for three years and had gone home to visit his loved ones.
After the fighting broke out, he moved his family a few kilometres south of Khartoum but still did not feel safe.
He said: “The whole capital [has] become a war zone. Even considering moving out of the capital is very dangerous as well. So it is absolutely a difficult time and a stressful time.”
Dr Ahmed said there was little access to water, electricity and healthcare with violence getting closer to where he was sheltering.
Dr Ahmed also criticised the UK government, saying: “I don’t think we’ve had enough attention. They just take the diplomats out. But there are other people. We deserve more attention from them.”
A senior Hamas official has thanked President Donald Trump for his role in securing a peace deal with Hamas.
In an exclusive interview with Sky News’ lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim, senior Hamas official Dr Basem Naim also warned that former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair would not be welcome in any post-war role for Gaza.
Dr Naim said a ceasefire would not have been possible without President Trump, but insisted he needed to continue to apply pressure to Israel to stick to the agreement.
He added that Hamas would be willing to step aside for a Palestinian body to govern a post-war Gaza, but that they would remain “on the ground” and would not be disarmed.
Dr Naim said in the interview: “Without the personal interference of President Trump in this case, I don’t think that it would have happened to have reached the end of the war.
“Therefore, yes, we thank President Trump and his personal efforts to interfere and to pressure Netanyahu to bring an end to this massacre and slaughtering.”
He added: “We believe and we hope that President Trump will continue to interfere personally and to exercise the maximum pressure on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to fulfil the obligation.
“First, as according to the deal, and second, according to the international law as an occupying power, because I think without this, without this personal interference from President Trump, this will not happen.
“We have already seen Netanyahu speaking to the media, threatening to go to war again if this doesn’t happen, if that doesn’t happen.”
Donald Trump has been thanked for his role in securing a peace deal in Gaza. Pic: AP
Dr Naim said that weapons would only be handed over to the Palestinian state, with fighters integrated into the Palestinian National Army.
He reiterated that Hamas would not disarm as this could not guarantee the safety of Palestine.
Dr Naim said: “Our weapons are going to be handed over only to the hands of a Palestinian state, and our fighters can be integrated into the Palestinian National Army.
“No one has the right to deny us the right to resist the occupation of armies.”
He added: “We are not going to be disarmed as long as we are not sure that this will lead, by any other means, to having an independent self state which is able to defend itself.”
But he criticised plans for Sir Tony to play any role in the future of Gaza, saying that Hamas and Palestinians were angered by his role in previous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Dr Naim added: “When it comes to Tony Blair, unfortunately, we Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims and maybe others around the world have bad memories of him.
“We can still remember his role in killing, causing thousands or millions of deaths to innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We can still remember him very well after destroying Iraq and Afghanistan.”
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Thousands of Gazans are heading north as Israeli troops pull back.
Under Mr Trump’s plans, Sir Tony would form part of an international supervisory body.
The international body, the Council of Peace or Board of Peace, would govern under plans approved by Mr Netanyahu.
The body would hold most power while overseeing the administration of Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs.
It would also hold the commanding role of directing reconstruction in Gaza.
Sir Tony Blair has been told he would not be welcome in a post-war Gaza
Dr Naim added that Hamas was satisfied Mr Trump’s plan would achieve peace in Gaza.
But he said it could never be fully satisfied after accusing Israel of genocide.
Israel has continually denied this, claiming it has been fighting Hamas terrorists to defend itself following the October 7 massacre in 2023.
On that day, Hamas gunmen stormed southern Israel killing 1,200 people and taking many Israelis hostage.
This is a historic moment for the Middle East. The coming days will be crucial.
Critical for the immediate success of Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan. But also for hopes it could lead to something even more important, progress towards a broader peace.
There is plenty that could still go wrong. But so far so good.
Follow the latest updates on the Gaza ceasefire deal
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‘Things moving rapidly’ in Gaza as ceasefire takes effect
Hamas seems ready to give up its hostages believing American assurances Israel will not start the war again when they have.
And Israel is withdrawing its forces on the lines outlined in the deal.
If the deal does hold then what next?
Here are the most pressing questions.
What becomes of Hamas? It is meant to disarm and not be part of any future government in Gaza. What if it goes back on that? What if it retreats to the shadows, regroups and rearms and goes back to its old ways?
Then, who is going to keep the peace? The plan is for an international peacekeeping force overseen by the Americans but not involving US troops on the ground, using soldiers from Arab countries and Turkey instead.
Will that force materialise and will it be effective? The history of peacekeeping operations in the region is not an encouraging one.
Then how is Gaza going to be run?
There’s been talk of a government of technocrats, people who know how to get things done, and of an oversight board run by President Trump, and of Tony Blair coming in as governor.
It will be a massive task. Rebuilding Gaza will cost billions of dollars and at the moment plans seem vague at best.
It could all come unstuck.
But then again, there are reasons for some optimism. Could this breakthrough lead to more sustained progress in efforts to build a lasting peace?
October 7th and the events that followed it including the Gaza war have changed so much in the Middle East.
Events have laid bare the utter futility of the past.
Read more:
How withdrawal of Israeli troops in Gaza could work
How two years of war have shattered the Gaza Strip
Israel’s policy of dividing and ruling the Palestinians and weakening them so they could never form their own state has ended in tragedy and colossal failure.
Hamas has brought its people nothing but misery and carnage.
There is on both sides a yearning for a new start.
There is also an American president who is prepared to put massive pressure on Israel unlike his predecessors and who is hungry for peace.
The region is lining up to push the chances of peace. President Trump has galvanised the likes of Turkey, Egypt and nations in the gulf.
In Israel there may be a fresh start. Its hardline right-wing government might have to give way to new leaders with new ideas.
And the country most likely to wreck the chances of progress, Iran, is massively weakened, pummelled by Israeli air power, and its allies and proxies humbled.
We should not over-egg the chances of further progress. In this rough neighbourhood there is always a multitude of reasons why this multi-stage deal might still fall apart, let alone lead to a much bigger peace.
But there is a chance now. The past two years have broken up the Middle East and so many of its old rules of operating. Putting it back together offers an opportunity.
It will require a huge amount of political will and leadership but there is the chance however slim of remaking the region in a way that gives its people a better future.
World
Tennessee: Multiple people killed and others missing after explosion at military munitions plant
Multiple people have been killed and others are missing after an explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant.
Secondary explosions have forced rescuers back from the burning site at Accurate Energetic Systems, according to the Hickman County Sheriff’s Office.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told a news conference: “We do have several people at this time unaccounted for.
“We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation. We do have some folks. We can confirm that we do have some that are deceased.”
The explosion was reported at 7.45am in Hickman County on Friday. Pic: WTVF-TV / AP
The cause of the blast, which occurred at 7.45am on Friday (1.45pm in the UK), was not immediately known.
Video from the scene showed flames and smoke billowing from a field of debris.
Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the Tennessee plant because of continuing explosions, Hickman County Advanced MT David Stewart said.
Pics: WTVF-TV / AP
Residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, told the Associated Press that they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.
Gentry Stover, who was woken from his sleep by the blast, said: “I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it.
“I live very close to Accurate and I realised about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
Read more from Sky News:
Hamas official tells Sky News Tony Blair not welcome
Liam Gallagher and Wayne Rooney among stars at Ricky Hatton funeral
Thomas Tuchel criticises England fans after Wales win
According to its website, Accurate Energetic Systems manufactures products for the defence, aerospace, demolition, and oil and gas industries
It adds that the company makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills near Bucksnort, a town about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.
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