Imtiaz Sooliman – Sudan evacuations continue
AI: Summary ©
In Egypt, many South-Creks are carrying many biteras, but the exact number of people is unknown. The American government is helping to get three more biteras across the border. The bus is available and there is a risk of explosions, but safety is emphasized. The speakers express hope that the situation will soon be resolved and discuss the importance of the Doctor MTR founder and director of the humanitarian organization.
AI: Summary ©
Most of the South Africans who've been stranded in the Sudanese
capital Khartoum for nearly 10 days have reached safety in Egypt.
But we understand there are at least four people who've been left
behind. We've heard that another convoy with them left this
afternoon, but let's get the very latest details from Dr imtia
Suleiman, founder and director of the humanitarian organization,
gift of the givers. We're also going to get an update on efforts
to get hostage Kharkiv van der Venter released from Mali. He, of
course, has been held there for nearly six years now. Doc, thanks
so much for joining us. So
the first convoy, I think it was two busses carrying most of those
South Africans living in Khartoum has arrived in Egypt. Can you
confirm that?
Yes, there's the first two busses. Had 38 South Africans and seven
Angolans in the busses. Of course, what the crisis we mentioned at
the beginning? Having no passports is part of the challenge. So nine
of them have been held back at the border on Egyptian side, but not
in. I mean, in terrible circumstances, it's just a matter
of formality. The who is working with the Egyptian Government to
try to get that paperwork cleared so the nine can go across into the
Egyptian side and go from there to Aswan. We give to the US as a
range accommodation and food for the 45
people have come across from Sudan in Aswan. What doesn't all have
been arranged. And of course, the busses don't cross from Egypt into
from Sudan into Egypt. They stop at the border. And other busses
have to be arranged from the other side, which Turko has done. So
maybe one bus will take the 36 people away, and another bus will
wait for the other night. So in terms of that, that group that 38
South Africans, you know? I mean, yes, it was 38 South Africans were
in that group. So there across. But altogether, there's many more
on the second part of South Africans. Three landed up in
Djibouti. I'm not really still in Djibouti, or they gone out,
depending, again, on the passport availability. Those were other
flights from European countries, Italians, French, British, Irish,
Dutch, taking their nationals out. And in the process, three South
African got a lift, and they got to Djibouti. There's 11 waiting in
Port Sudan. What you mentioned earlier, there are four were left
behind. Three of those four then decided to go to port Sudan.
There's 11 people's day. There's a bit of a challenge. Now, you can't
cross. There's no land board, and we don't know how to get that out,
because it's a no fly zone, and you have to go back on boat by
across on the sea. And what happened last night? They were
expecting to go on a ferry, but when they got up in the morning,
the ferry was already gone, and the ferry wasn't taking people,
and even right now they're waiting at the port, there's desperation.
They know the only ones, the citizens from other countries, all
waiting to go across, but there's no guarantee when a ferry will
come. So we have a challenge for that situation. The last one is,
of course, the South African there's only one more left for us
that was arranged a special bus when oils were little back on
Sunday nights, around midnight, the entire cellular network
collapsed, and on Monday morning, by midday, when the busses left,
an hour tour later, we realized that four South Africans have got
were left behind. And obviously, in that situation, you can't leave
them behind. We made arrangements for another bus to take them
today, the bus came the corner of the company send the bus, but he's
a very careful man. Thank God for that. And he's got intelligence
all over the ground with the busses. And he said, we can't send
you guys today. The fighting is all outside Khartoum. It's all on
the road to Egypt. It's, it is bombing. It's either bombing all
over. There's just no way I'm going to take a chance and put you
on a bus. Yes, people are slightly disappointed, but security and
safety comes first. There's one South African day, and then, of
course, there's another request. We get a request from foreign
nationals. I got a call from the from the Brazilian ambassador in
South Africa, and from the Brazilian government, directly
from Brazil to take some of their citizens out. Some Filipinos have
approached me. Other nationalities approached me. The bus is
available. We put on whoever we can. So right now, 38 South
Africans, for which nine are stuck at about are out. 11 in Port
Sudan, one waiting in in Khartoum, and there's another one somewhere
in between, and Egyptian water, and we try to make contact with to
meet us on the bus to borrowed, at least, for Egypt. So it's
interesting that you you talk about the fact that your your bus
driver was saying that it's just too dangerous today, because we've
heard this, a ceasefire in place.
Are you saying that actually, it's not necessarily holding it's still
really dangerous out there
no cease fire is maybe in the desert where there's nobody, all
over else, they're just bombing and fighting all the time. You can
hear this. They can hear it. I'm not there. You can hear the day.
Tell you. They can hear the shelling, you know, and the bomb.
In. And the reason why we use this bus company, because he's been
regular on the roads to port Sudan and to Egypt, and if anybody will
know what's going on, is the bus drivers. And because his bus is in
front of you and behind you, you can have a sense of what's going
on. And he said last night, he said, Look, I've given you the two
busses. They go on now you need a third bus, but I don't have the
bus. The bus is coming from Port Sudan, but it will come back at
night, and it will sleep somewhere outside khao tom because we can't
dig it in at night. So the bus will come around 11 o'clock, and
then at 11 o'clock, we asked, where's the bus? The man said, I
can't bring the bus. He did is this, we have to avoid too many
areas. They're shooting all over in Khartoum, there's just
skirmishes everywhere. But he said more than that. He said the
planes, the planes are coming, and they throw in the bombs, you know?
And he says, lots of bombing taking place. He said, I can't
take a chance. And effectively, it was probably one of the days where
it's serious bombing all over when it's supposed to be a ceasefire,
gosh. So it really is still a very, very volatile situation. So
almost all the South Africans are out. That's good news. Let's hope
that one those two people that you're still trying to
get completely to safety and the people in Port Sudan. Let's hope
that happens soon. I mean, it's an extraordinary effort.
You know, there's a lot of people involved, but even you know, the
incredible kindness of these bus drivers and this bus company that
has done so much I understand with very little payment at this stage.
I mean, it's incredible,
the kindness
no pain. Wow. You know, they tell you upfront they want money up
front in cash dollars, because there's no banking system. And
then we I said, Look, we don't have the money here. I can make a
transfer. And said, no, yeah. So I call him taking a step. And you
know, he spoke to him when he did it at no cost. I mean, that's
amazing. I have to, as we close, just ask you about her co founder.
There's been a lot of attempts. Your organization, the Muslim
Judicial Council, other groups, please for mercy from the group
holding him. I understand that the negotiator has got all those pleas
through to the group that's holding him. Has there been any
movement at all on this issue?
Yes, you know, Ed, on Friday, he got a call from somebody, a man
said, I'm a doctor, and I was with her go. We found that very, very
strange. And he said, I would like to meet you, and I will meet you
on Sunday. Friday. Was it in Mali? We had it on Saturday. He said,
I'll meet you on Sunday. On Sunday, he said, a message, you
know, I can't make it as few tomorrow. Mini Monday. He arrived
on Monday from a place called mokti, which is quite far, but he
came late at night, and he's the doctor, so he was at work today.
He said, I'll see you sometime tonight. So we're expecting that
meeting tonight. I can't understand the context, because
he's a doctor in house. He was help of us for some period of
time. No, we need to try to understand the context. And the
other good news is that we expecting either today or tomorrow
morning, the chief intermediary who actually opened it to go first
to get Stephen McGowan out. He should have been arriving from
Saudi Arabia either today or tomorrow morning, and that's a
very important person to meet. The third part and the final part of
the period, we've done everything else. We made the announcement for
rent, for ransom, free. We made this. We send the videos, we send
the letter from the MDC. We made videos in Arabic. We had people
making emphasizing the fact that, you know, there's no ransom, is in
this discussion, there's no discussion about ransom. Yeah,
yeah. And so the last part now is to convince the group, not the
captains. The captains have a lot of people around, and there are
people who want to call the elders, people who have influenced
tribal leaders. And he used to go to meet them in the north to say,
look, there's no money. Can you put the word in? They can make a
big difference, and so can intermediaries. I mean, that's the
last part left after the two meetings in Mali, that's the last
part left. And then we just do it, and then we just wait. Well, let's
hope there's good news soon. Thank you so much for updating us on
both those situations. That, of course, is Doctor MTR Suleiman,
founder and director of the humanitarian organization, gift of
the givers.