Raheed Ejaz: Under mediation by the United States, a 72-hour ceasefire started in Sudan on Tuesday. But the Sudan army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) is violating the ceasefire in many places including the capital Khartoum.
The local people as well as the over 1000 Bangladeshis living in Khartoum are spending their days in panic and alarm. They are desperate to return home as soon as possible.
Bangladeshi businessman Sultan Danesh Ali has been in Sudan for over two decades. He has witnessed many conflicts in this war-torn African nation but this time things are very different, he says.
President of the Bangladesh community in Sudan, Sultan Danesh Ali on Wednesday afternoon told Prothom Alo that three days ago he had moved with his family and friends from central Khartoum to Omdurman, a little distance away. They are preparing to move even further away in the next day or two.
He said, “We went out today (Wednesday) to get some essentials. Our car was being searched while we were sitting inside. Suddenly a bridge nearby was hit by a rocket. A ceasefire is supposed to be in place, but that is not being heeded. Firing has lessened, but not stopped. Like others, we are extremely anxious about the money, food, water and electricity crisis.”
”Preparations are on in full swing to send the Bangladeshis from the Port of Sudan via Saudi Arabia back to the country. We hope to be able to finalise a vessel within a couple of days and announce the date of sending back 500 Bangladeshis to start with.”- Tareq Ahmed, Bangladesh’s acting ambassador (charge d’affaires) in Sudan
Sultan Danesh Ali has been running a tailoring shop in Khartoum over the past 20 years. He has three tailoring outlets in Sudan. He says, when the fighting broke out between the two sides on 15 April, power connections were severed. The power lines were reconnected on 18 April, but with a 30 to 40 per cent decreased power supply. Banks, shops, offices, almost everything was closed. If the situation continues in this manner much longer, an extreme humanitarian crisis will emerge, this Bangladeshi businessman fears.
Explaining the intensity of the situation, Sultan Danesh Ali said, in order to create a humanitarian crisis, the warring sides, RSF in particular, are destroying the food sources. Theft and snatching is being carried out regularly. An extreme financial crisis has arisen. People are desperate to flee from Khartoum in fear of their lives.
The Bangladeshis there are not only fleeing Khartoum, but are also preparing to return to Bangladesh. Speaking over mobile phone, a tailoring shop assistant in Khartoum, Md Russel Miah, told this correspondent, “We received a phone call from the Bangladesh embassy on Wednesday afternoon and I sent my name and passport details, as well as that of my four co-workers, to the embassy officials. We have heard that the Bangladesh embassy in Sudan is preparing to send us back to the country on 29 or 30 April.”
Speaking about the situation in Khartoum, the young Bangladeshi Russel Miah said, “The firing hasn’t stopped. Neither of the conflicting sides is following the ceasefire. We shifted a little distance from where we lived a couple of days ago. Today a few of us went to our previous home to collect our goods. We saw a three-storey building near our house had been razed to the ground. This was done very recently. We saw two fighter planes surveying the area. We are constantly in alarm.”
Md Russel said that when the fighting broke out, the owner of the business sent them 250 dollars by an app and they used that to buy food and other essentials. They have supplies that will last for about a week.
He also said that though there is a food crisis, food is available at multiple times the actual price. The water crisis is extreme. He said that at the outset he had gone three to four kilometres in search of a bottle of water.
According to Bangladeshis in Sudan, there are not more than around 1500 Bangladeshis there at present. It is estimated that around 1000 Bangladeshis are in Khartoum still.
When asked about bringing the Bangladeshis in Sudan back to the country, the acting ambassador (charge d’affaires) Tareq Ahmed said, “Preparations are on in full swing to send the Bangladeshis from the Port of Sudan via Saudi Arabia back to the country. We hope to be able to finalise a vessel within a couple of days and announce the date of sending back 500 Bangladeshis to start with.”
