'No words in the English language' to describe Canadian-Sudanese man's escape from war

It took eight gruelling days for Mohamed Hassan and his diabetic mother, 74, to reach Cairo from their home in Omdurman

Everyday since the conflict started, hundred of buses carry thousands of Sudanese arrive in Karkar terminal station in Aswan southern Egypt.

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Sudanese-Canadian filmmaker Mohamed Hassan says there are "no words in the English dictionary" to describe the gruelling eight-day journey from Sudan to Egypt he was forced to take with his 74 year-old diabetic mother.

The danger of running into clashing factions, traffic jams caused by those fleeing and inflated prices set by exploitative transport providers made the journey more difficult, he said, speaking to The National.

"I was supposed to fly off from Khartoum to Toronto at 7.30pm on April 15," he said, referring to the day the hostilities between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army began.

"I woke up to a bombardment of messages on WhatsApp and social media, about Khartoum Airport being closed amid the fighting."

This was when everything changed. Mr Hassan and his mother decided they needed to leave their home in Omdurman, which he says was near an RSF camp that was under heavy fire.

On the same day the fighting began, Mr Hassan says, he contacted the Canadian embassy to find out what its plans were for evacuating citizens.

"I got a response from the Global Affairs Office in Ottawa through their hotline at the embassy in Khartoum that there was no plan to evacuate Canadian citizens from Khartoum and that it was not likely that they would have one."

The National contacted the Canadian authorities for comment on Mr Hassan's situation.

"Canada cannot comment on individual cases," a statement by the Global Affairs Office said.

Evacuations took place from April 27-29 from the Wadi Sayyidna Air Base (WSA) for six flights, Canada's Global Affairs Office said in a statement.

But April 27 was 12 days after the conflict began and too late for Mr Hassan and his ailing mother, who decided to leave on April 22, the second day of Eid Al Fitr.

People being driven from Khartoum to Egypt. Reuters

The Global Affairs Office said: "As of April 30, almost 550 people were evacuated by Canadian evacuation flights ... in total, between evacuation flights organised by Canada and our international partners, approximately 400 Canadians and permanent residents have been moved out of Sudan. We are also aware of dozens of Canadians who departed by other means."

After several attempts at finding a bus to catch, Mr Hassan said it was his cousin who made arrangements, informing him he had to make his way from Omdurman to Dongola city to begin his journey towards the Egyptian border.

"When we got there, there were long arguments with the bus driver who had increased the fare for the ticket. We had commissioned him for $120 but he asked for more than double the price — $300 — after we had arrived.

"We had no choice but to pay the extra $300 each."

Mr Hassan said he was short on cash due to this unexpected expense and had to borrow from family friends escaping the country with him.

But first, they had to spend the night in Dongola.

"I slept on the road. My mother slept on the bus. There was no accommodation, no bathroom and no water."

In Dongola, Mohamed Hassan and others had to sleep on flimsy, makeshift beds exposed to the elements. Photo: Mohamed Hassan

From there, they made their way to the northern city of Halfa where more bad news awaited.

"The driver did not have a permit to go to Egypt, so we had to stay another night there to find another driver."

They spent a night at a hotel where, he says, children with him aboard the bus — many under 12 — had their first meal since their departure from Dongola.

Long queues on the Sudanese-Egyptian border meant Mr Hassan and his mother then missed a ferry from Lake Nasser to Aswan.

Again, there was no food, no bathrooms or shelter.

"Both me and my mother slept on the road."

Mr Hassan said they then spent the next night in Aswan, from where they caught the train to Cairo where they are now staying temporarily.

But there was still the matter of making his way to Canada as he had initially planned to do on April 15.

Mr Hassan said the airline with which he has booked his ticket is asking for more than $1,500 to change the flight — originally set to take off from Khartoum Airport before it was closed.

Meanwhile, a family friend died while on the journey to the Sudan-Egypt border, Mr Hassan said.

"His family only found out after, that he had been buried in the port city of Abu Simbel.

"He died from exhaustion, dehydration and an existing heart condition."

Mr Hassan and his family are also grieving over the death of a family member who died from an infected bullet wound, five days after he was shot.

So far more than 500 people have been killed in Sudan since the fighting broke out and the death toll continues to rise despite several ceasefires which have been breached.

The UN estimates that more than 800,000 people could flee Sudan in the violence, many of them arriving in neighbouring countries that are already struggling to recover from conflict and severe drought.