Nine employees of the British Council in Khartoum have been stranded in their offices for five days amid heavy gunfire and explosions, as fighting in the streets of the Sudanese capital continues between the army and paramilitary forces.
One of the British Council staff is a British-Ugandan dual citizen; the rest are Sudanese. They include a security guard, an English language teacher, a driver and administrators.
“We are terrified – the fighting is all around us. We have been patient, but now honestly we are starting to [be] feeling anxious,” said Mohamad Berer, speaking by phone from the centre.
At least 270 people have been killed in the fighting which has raged since Saturday betweenthe Sudan Armed Forces headed by Gen Abdulfatah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces headed by Mohamed Hamadan Daglo.
Another group of foreigners, including Egyptian, Japanese, Irish, Syrian and US citizens, are also understood to be trapped in central Khartoum amid the fighting.
The British Council sits just a few miles from the military headquarters and the presidential palace, the focus of the most intense clashes.
“We have been given promises by our manager since the beginning that they will evacuate us but nothing has happened, so now we are calling for people on the outside to help get us out,” Berer said.
After five days eating food from the canteen, the trapped employees are running low on supplies. As is the case for the entire Khartoum East district, power at the centre has been cut since the fighting started, but water is still available from taps.
One female employee, who did not want to be named, said she lived in Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman, but the bridges across the Blue Nile are all closed. She said she was disappointed that the group had not been evacuated. “I am very angry and scared of what’s been going on, there are some false promises to get us out but nothing’s happening, we are waiting and the situation is increasingly hard for us,” she said.
A British Council spokesperson said: “The safety and security of our colleagues is our highest priority. We are doing everything in our power to help our colleagues find safe passage to an alternative location.”
