Traumatised Sudan evacuees describe ‘horrendous’ scenes in Khartoum as they arrive in Cyprus
Many people are arriving in Cyprus utterly traumatised and too upset to talk about what they’ve been through to get here.
We watched a hundred or so, slowly walk down the ramp off the back of an RAF Hercules aircraft into the Mediterranean sun on this holiday island. What a culture shock that must be.
They’re met by British government staff from the Foreign Office’s rapid reaction team – many of them are pulling 20-hour shifts as aircraft land at all hours of the day.
Medics and aid workers are on standby for anyone who needs help. The Cypriot authorities have experience of this – the exodus from Lebanon in 2006 – and they’re working closely with the British.
The process is quick once they land. They’re taken through immigration and then fast-tracked to a departures lounge away from most passengers, ready for a chartered flight back to the UK.
Some are giddy with the elation of making it to safety. Most are exhausted, silent and close to tears.
We met Dr Abdraman, his four sons and his wife, just as they were about to board their flight home.
His wife had to leave her parents behind. She buried her head in her scarf and sobbed as her children told us what they’d experienced.
Dr Abdraman
Two of Dr Abdraman’s sons
“It was kind of tiring because we had to go upstairs and downstairs when we heard bullets and bombs because downstairs is more safe because they normally hit upwards, and it might hit us.”
If there is space, the RAF flights are bringing out other nationalities too.
We met an Australian, Eltayeb Eltayeb, who’d made it out overnight.
He said the situation in Khartoum was “horrendous” and “horrific”.
Eltayeb Eltayeb
“In the middle of the city there were dead bodies everywhere, it was starting to smell like a lot of carcasses.
“[There were] a lot of buildings knocked down, a lot of homes shattered, a lot of people displaced from their homes, and a lot of people dead,” he said.
“It’s saddening because it’s right on your front doorstep, you can hear the gunshots outside, the bullets, the tanks firing, the missiles falling down hitting their targets.
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Tears as Sudan evacuees reunite with families
“Your house vibrating, the windows shaking, it’s a pretty daunting and traumatic experience.”
Mr Eltayeb was staying with his family around 20 minutes from the centre of Khartoum. His house was opposite what he believed was one of the headquarters for the Rapid Support Forces – one of the two groups involved in the fighting.
“You look into the road and you see someone holding an AK looking at you and you just walk right back home.
A plane carrying British nationals evacuated from Sudan
“There’s a famine going on right now. There’s shortages of food, water, supplies. Nothing’s open, no-one is bringing supplies in, people are running out. Sooner or later they’re going to start jumping on the doors and extorting houses.”
The British military says they will be able to continue operating rescue flights, even if the fighting resumes.
They might have to. The 72-hour ceasefire is quickly running out and hundreds more Britons are still trapped in Sudan.
A new aid system has opened its first distribution centres in Gaza, according to a US-backed organisation dealing with supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations in the territory on Monday, following the resignation of its director, Jake Wood, over its independence.
Gaza’s 2.3m population has been pushed towards famine by Israel’s almost three-month blockade.
Boxes of aid to be distributed across Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
The GHF said lorryloads of food – it did not say how many – had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun.
“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” it said in a statement.
The controversial group, backed by Israel and the United States, has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups.
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People line up for food in Gaza
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF.
They claim Israel is weaponising food, and the new distribution system will be ineffective and lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They also argue the GHF will fail to meet local needs, and violates humanitarian principles that prohibit a warring party from controlling humanitarian assistance.
In the meantime, scores of Palestinians in Gaza, like Islam Abu Taima, have resorted to searching through rubbish to find food.
Palestinians are having to search through rubbish to find food
She found a small pile of cooked rice, scraps of bread, and a box with a few pieces of cheese inside it – which she said she will serve to her five children.
“We’re dying of hunger,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
“If we don’t eat, we’ll die.”
Islam Abu Taeima finds a piece of bread in a pile of rubbish in Gaza City. Pic: AP.
It is unclear how many of the GHF’s aid trucks will enter Gaza.
It claims it will reach one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
There are questions, however, over who is funding it and how it will work.
Trucks transporting aid for Palestinians in Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
It has been set up as part of an Israeli plan – rather than a UN distribution effort.
Israel, which suggested a similar plan earlier this year, has said it will not be involved in distributing the aid but supported the plan and would provide security.
It says aid deliveries into Gaza are taken by Hamas instead of going to civilians.
Aid groups, however, say there is no evidence of this happening on a systemic basis.
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Israel began to allow a limited amount of food into Gaza last week – after a blockade that prevented food, medicine, fuel and other goods from entering the Palestinian enclave.
A letter has been signed by hundreds of judges and lawyers calling on the UK government to impose trade sanctions on Israel.
It also calls for Israeli ministers to be sanctioned and the suspension of Israel from the UN over “serious breaches of international law”.
“Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or that, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide,” the letter says.
The Israeli government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of genocide in Gaza.
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At least 31 dead after school attack
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, following the deadly attacks by the militant group on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
The health ministry’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters in Gaza.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are being urged to use their visit to Canada to seek an apology for the abuse of British children.
Campaigners have called on them to pursue an apology for the “dire circumstances” suffered by so-called “Home Children” over decades.
More than 100,000 were shipped from orphan homes in the UK to Canada between 1869 and 1948 with many used as cheap labour, typically as farm workers and domestic servants. Many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.
Canada has resisted calls to follow the UK and Australia in apologising for its involvement in child migrant schemes.
King Charles and Mark Carney on Monday. Pic: PA
Campaigners for the Home Children say the royal visit presents a “great opportunity” for a change of heart.
“I would ask that King Charles uses his trip to request an apology,” John Jefkins told Sky News.
John’s father Bert was one of 115,000 British Home Children transported to Canada, arriving in 1914 with his brother Reggie.
“It’s really important for the Home Children themselves and for their descendants,” John said.
“It’s something we deserve and it’s really important for the healing process, as well as building awareness of the experience of the Home Children.
“They were treated very, very badly by the Canadian government at the time. A lot of them were abused, they were treated horribly. They were second-class citizens, lepers in a way.”
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John Jefkins
John added: “I think the King’s visit provides a great opportunity to reinforce our campaign and to pursue an apology because we’re part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is a new Head of the Commonwealth meeting a new Canadian prime minister. It’s a chance, for both, to look at the situation with a fresh eye.
“There’s much about this visit that looks on our sovereignty and who we are as Canadians, rightly so.
“I think it’s also right that in contemplating the country we built, we focus on the people who built it, many in the most trying of circumstances.”
The issue was addressed by the then Prince of Wales during a tour of Canada in May 2022. He said at the time: “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past.”
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King Charles and Queen Camilla are on a two-day visit to Canada.
On Tuesday, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne to open the 45th session of Canada’s parliament.
Camilla was made Patron of Barnardo’s in 2016. The organisation sent tens of thousands of Home Children to Canada. She took on the role, having served as president since 2007.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Canadian government said: “The government of Canada is committed to keeping the memory of the British Home Children alive.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada deeply regrets this unjust and discriminatory policy, which was in place from 1869 to 1948. Such an approach would have no place in modern Canada, and we must learn from past mistakes.”
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