Sudanese unable to escape their war-torn country because Western embassies kept their passports, which they need to leave for neighboring nations

Sudanese unable to escape their war-torn country because Western embassies kept their passports, which they need to leave for neighboring nations
Smoke rises from Sudan's capital in April 2023

Many people would like to leave Sudan, where at least 5,000 civilians have died in factional fighting between two warring factions of the government. Many people have run out of food as shops close.

But some can’t leave, for an odd reason: because Western Embassies that had their passports fled the country without returning their passport. For example, a month ago, Ahmad Mahmoud submitted his passport and visa application to the Swedish embassy in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. He never imagined they would not give him back his passport, which he needs to travel even to neighboring countries like Egypt.

But when fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and air force on one side, and the Rapid Support Forces militia on the other, Swedish diplomats suspended consular services and fled Sudan without warning.

Mahmoud wrote to a Swedish diplomat via WhatsApp, begging for her to find a solution where he could either retrieve his passport or at least receive a stamped copy from the Swedish embassy. He realized he could not legally escape the country without one.

“Please let me know when I can be ready to take my passport. I need to be ready to leave my country. My building is not safe anymore,” Mahmoud wrote to the Swedish diplomat in text messages.

“As mentioned, I’m deeply sorry to say that it’s not possible,” the diplomat responded.

Mahmoud is one of thousands and thousands of Sudanese visa applicants trapped in a war zones after foreign diplomats evacuated the country without giving Sudanese applicants back their passports.

Diplomats or civil servants from countries such as England, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain have not responded to queries from many Sudanese who left passports with their embassies.

Sudanese citizens, whose passports are locked up in evacuated Western embassies in Khartoum, said some Western civil servants told them to apply for a new one from local authorities.

But local authorities are hiding from the fighting in the streets of Sudan’s capital. Sudan’s rival government faction are fighting each other in a bloody conflict that displaced tens of thousands to neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and Djibouti.

Egypt, which is about 450 miles from Sudan’s capital, is the closest and only workable escape route for many, but those without passports are not allowed in.

“Even if the bombing gets worse then I won’t be able to leave because I don’t have my passport,” Mahmoud said. “I’m sure [the diplomats] don’t care about [their own Sudanese embassy] staff, let alone myself who applied for a stupid visa.”

Sudanese visa applicants who could not get their passports back have been turned back at the Egyptian border, leaving them unable to flee with their loved ones to neighbouring countries.

Ashraf Malik, a young man, said his sister and mother left for Egypt with their small children. He stayed behind with his brother to try and retrieve his passport from the Spanish embassy, where he had applied for a visa earlier this month to attend a conference.

When the war started, Malik called the embassy’s emergency number but the lady on the line refused to help him.

“She asked me if I was Spanish. When I said I wasn’t, she hung up and refused to talk to me,” he lamented.

Because of the ongoing battles in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, Malik left with his brother for Port Sudan, which remains mostly free from the fighting. Shortly after arriving his brother boarded a ship to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“He’s going to Dubai and I’m staying in Port Sudan because I don’t have a passport,” Malik stated.

Sudanese dual nationals living abroad are also struggling to get their governments to find a solution for their loved ones.

One man, who is a doctor in the United Kingdom, said he called the visa application center many times to ask if his wife can get her passport back from the embassy in Khartoum, which is closed.

He said he wished English officials would at least send his wife an electronic version of her passport.

“I don’t know why things are so slow. Every time I call [them], I just end the conversation with more frustration. I just want a resolution,” he said.

Western governments could be liable for restricting the freedom of movement of Sudanese nationals by not returning passports to visa applicants after fighting erupted, according to a law professor. She noted that Western governments have signed and ratified the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, which treats the ability to flee a country as a basic human right.

Article 12 of the ICCPR states “Everyone should be free to leave any country, including his own.” “All of the states who have left people behind or stranded have signed the ICCPR, so I would think they have an obligation to provide alternative documentation,” she said.

Street battles in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, have left patients and doctors trapped in hospitals for days without supplies, or even water. Khartoum, is the world’s hottest capital city, with a hot desert climate, and is hot even in April. A week ago, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors and Sudan’s Doctors Union said 70 percent, or 39 out of 59 hospitals, in Khartoum and nearby jurisdictions have had to cease operations. The World Health Organization warns that the remaining hospitals are running out of blood, medical equipment and supplies.

At Al-Moalem Medical City hospital, food and bottled water ran out four days into the fighting. “The worst thing was seeing the injured men and chronic patients struggling to survive,” said a doctor.”They were already vulnerable, and we felt paralysed trying to help them.”

The inmates of a prison north of the capital escaped, adding to public-safety worries. Kobar prison, which is in the northern part of the capital, was broken into and prisoners let out. Prisoners said they were not being fed, which is why they broke out.

LU Staff

LU Staff

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