British writer describes ‘miracle’ escape from Sudan as she took 600-mile route to safety
A British-Sudanese writer has said escaping war-torn Sudan was ‘hell’ and has told of her ‘miracle’ bid for freedom.
Rozan Ahmed, from London, flew to the eastern-Africa country two weeks ago to attend a funeral for her cousin.
But she ended up trapped with no way to get back home.
The activist saw her neighbour’s house burnt down and spent three days hiding under her bed as explosions rocked Khartoum where she was staying.
Ms Ahmed last night managed to get to the Egyptian border after a gruelling 1,000km journey on a coach with around 50 other young women and children.
She had been stuck in the Sudanese capital for 10 days and was waking up daily to gunfire and shelling outside her home.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘This has been the most harrowing thing I’ve ever known in my life.
‘The reason why it’s been so harrowing isn’t because of what I’ve had to suffer physically, but mentally.
‘The mental destruction due to what I witnessed and what I had to go through to get myself to safety, I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from it.’
Speaking about the moment she found out that violence had erupted in the capital told Metro.co.uk: ‘I heard what sounded like fireworks, and then I realised it couldn’t be that.
‘Then women in the compound started running into my house screaming, saying, “we’re at war, we’re at war, put on the TV, put on the TV,” I did that and then I saw, sure enough, we were in a state of war.
‘Waking up to explosions, gunfire shelling sleeping to the same horrific scene, just sounds that rip through my soul. And I can still hear it repetitively in my head.’
She added: ‘I was barely getting any sleep, obviously, because every 20 minutes or so, every time I tried to close my eyes, I would, I couldn’t either through fear or because I just heard another explosion go off.
‘It was just, it was just horrendous.’
Rozan said her home was basically a ‘bunker’ as she sheltered with other family members, but after running out of drinking water she knew she had to make a bid for freedom.
After a ceasefire was announced Rozan said with the help of Sudanese locals she managed to organise an escape route.
She said: ‘I was alone for most of this period until there was an opportunity, a low moment where we took a huge risk to get water and to move to another home.
‘We were driving through my street we saw a house just burning to the ground and it was my neighbour’s house directly opposite me.’
The group managed to organise a bus as she prepared to take the ‘biggest risk’ of her life.
She said: ‘We got a bus, there were about 50 of us.
‘We took the biggest risk of our lives by driving through the city, driving past tanks, the risk of guns firing at each other.
‘We were so scared that we had actually gone numb.
‘And to be very honest with you, the men that were on the bus with us were the ones that kept us going, they were carrying us they were our foundation of strength.
‘And, and literally they were they were carrying the older women, the elderly women, and as well as looking after us, as well as having to look after themselves.
‘The women, the children and the elderly were their priority. And we got through it by some miracle.’
She said the British Embassy was delayed in evacuating its citizens and updating them accordingly.
She said: ‘My mother was calling in a frenzy of worry from abroad. I was calling from home whenever my phone was working. The internet was being cut off sporadically.
‘Phone lines were not clear but I just you know the email we received was just stay indoors. Then they said here’s a number to help you with your trauma.
‘That was it. that was that was all we got from the UK 10 days in.’
She praised those around the community in Khartoum who helped her get to safety, and said they organised themselves ‘out of hell.’
She told Metro: ‘The innocent civilians that were in Sudan had to plan mobilise and organise our own escape.
‘The Sudanese community came together, and we organised ourselves out of the hell.
‘The grace of God is what got me to this point of safety, the community, the Sudanese community that came together, and the grace of God.
‘And I also I don’t want to sound in any way, you know, cheesy or anything, but I was seeing signs throughout that journey, signs directly from God, God showing me that he was protecting me and the people around me. And that’s the only thing that kept me going.
Even when I was in the face of racist, rude, disrespectful, heartless officers, who, with a grin, sent ‘our men back to the war. Even then I was composed and I was calm.
‘Because I knew that God was with us. And the men that they send back will come back.
‘And I have no level of gratitude or appreciation for anyone, but the Sudanese community.
‘And God, and my mother and my mother, who helped me through this, unlike any other entity out there, claiming humanitarian responsibility.’
Around 300 British Nationals have now been flown out of the warzone to Cyprus and are expected to land back on UK soil in the coming days.
It is believed there are still around 2,000 Brits in Sudan who are trying to escape the war.
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