An American teacher and her 18-month-old daughter are trapped in Sudan as civil war ravages the North African country.
Trillian Clifford and her daughter Alma are following orders by the US government to shelter in place and ration their food and water, but Ms Clifford’s family in Massachusetts are worried about their safety as there appears to be no end in sight to the fighting.
“[Their situation] continues to decline every day. The fighting got extremely heavy during the first two days of Eid,” Ms Clifford’s sister-in-law Rebecca Winter told The Independent on Sunday. “Trillian and her baby were moved to a first-floor apartment to get away from the windows on the upper floor because there were air strikes just within one kilometre of her apartment.”
President Joe Biden ordered American troops to evacuate fewer than 100 embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier Saturday from his national security team, according to the Associated Press. However, The US has yet to announce plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of American civilians.
Ms Clifford, who has taught internationally for over a decade, moved to Sudan with her daughter last summer. She had been communicating with her family in the US via text messages up until Sunday morning, when Ms Winter said they lost contact.
“We have been able to FaceTime occasionally, but the last few days in particular the internet has been very unstable,” Ms Winter said. “We have lost all contact and it’s the first time that’s happened in the nine days that she’s been sheltering in place ... it’s just an extra layer of frightening.”
The civil war between Sudan’s two most powerful generals, who just 18 months earlier jointly orchestrated a military coup, erupted into an unprecedented battle for control of the resource-rich nation of more than 46 million people.
The armed forces chief and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group have vowed not to negotiate or cease fire, despite mounting global diplomatic pressure. More than 400 people, including at least one American citizen, have been killed in the fighting, according to the United Nations’ World Health Organization.
Ms Winter said one of the security guards who works at Ms Clifford’s building risked his life during a lull in the fighting to bring food and water to the teachers sheltering in the complex. However, Ms Clifford told her family that she is running low on food and doesn’t know when the next drop will be.
Ms Clifford has been reverse-weaning her daughter in a desperate bid to keep giving her proper nutrition. In her living room, Ms Clifford has arranged a makeshift shelter under her coffee table where she hides with Alma whenever she hears gunfire.
“Trill also is prepared to evacuate at any point, so everything is packed up. And she just has a go bag waiting,” Ms Winter told The Independent. “So they only have a few toys out for Alma to play with and I think that Alma is finally getting over them, so she’s been really fussy lately.”
The State Department suspended operations at the embassy due to the dire security situation. President Biden has called for an end to the “unconscionable” violence but has not announced evacuations for American civilians.
Ms Clifford, who has taught in Mumbai and Cairo in the past, is among at least 10 other American teachers in her building who have not been able to flee the country.
“We’ve spoken with the embassy, we’ve spoken to the Department of Defense,” Ms Winter said. “She does receive emails from the embassy, so she knows that they’re aware of her location, but they’ve continued to say all we can do is tell you to shelter in place and ration your food and water. There are no plans for evacuations for US citizens.”
Although she is frustrated with the situation, her only option at this time would be to risk her and her daughter’s life by trying to escape in a convoy, which Ms Winter said US officials have advised against.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed an unprovoked attack on an American diplomatic convoy. No injuries were reported.
“It’s really horrific. She doesn’t know what to do anymore, she’s exhausted,” Ms Winter said of her sister. “She says it’s the most terrifying and the most boring experience of her life because she’s terrified out of her mind and has nothing she can do about it. She’s just stuck sitting there.”
