Azza Ahmed is relieved to have gotten out of a dangerous situation in Khartoum.
The Sudanese-Canadian recently made a harrowing journey to flee the Sudanese capital at short notice, boarded a German military plane and, along with her mother and aunt, escaped the fighting that has erupted in the country.
“I think yesterday was probably the first day I slept without the sound of bombs ringing in my ear,” Ahmed told CBC News Network on Wednesday.
Fighting in Sudan has pitted the country’s military against rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with the two sides locked in a power struggle. Wednesday was the second day of a three-day ceasefire, but The Associated Press reported gunfire and explosions were heard in parts of Khartoum and near Omdurman.
Short term escape
Ahmed had recently been to a part of Khartoum that was close to an RSF-run TV station – which she said was a dangerous place.
“Luckily our cousins had enough gas to get us out of that area and into a safer place,” said Ahmed, who got out of that area on Sunday.
“We basically left with the clothes on our backs and just all the important documents.”
A man walks past a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (Marwan Ali/The Associated Press)
Early Monday morning, Ahmed said the Canadian Embassy had contacted her to say a flight would be leaving the country within hours.
But Ahmed said she and her family members would have to make their own way to a military airport “to get out”.
Family members were able to take them where they needed to go, but Ahmed said the high-stakes journey has been “pretty scary.”
The journey took about two hours. Ahmed, her mother and her aunt were on the plane a few hours after their arrival. They flew first to Jordan, then to Germany.
“It was a lot”
“The last 11, 12 days have been hell,” said Ahmed, who said it was hard to believe she and her family members made it through.
“When we landed in Jordan, I couldn’t even believe we were alive … it was a lot.”
And while Ahmed is now safe and out of the country, the stress is still palpable – and she worries for the other Canadians who haven’t been able to go.
“I am grateful for my life and for the life of my mother and my aunt,” said Ahmed.
“Some people who didn’t have a passport are still in the middle of a fight, in dangerous situations.”
The Canadian press reports that so far 150 Canadians and permanent residents have received assistance to flee Sudan. But there are hundreds more who have enlisted Ottawa’s help to get out.
Stressing her appreciation for the help she received escaping Sudan, Ahmed said Ottawa’s response to the emergency “could have been a lot better” – noting that there was some confusion in the details surrounding the evacuation flight and there could have been more communication There.
Defense Minister Anita Anand confirmed on Wednesday that Canada will send around 200 troops to help coordinate the evacuation of civilians from Sudan.
Ahead of Question Time in the House of Commons, Anand told a hastily assembled group of reporters that two C-130J Hercules transports were in East Africa preparing for flights to Khartoum “as soon as ground conditions permit”.