A Scots mum trapped in Sudan with her kids yesterday begged the UK Government to rescue them as fierce fighting rages on.
Jennifer McLellan spoke of her terror as she hunkered down with her husband Mohamed and their four children near capital Khartoum with the sound of gunfire closing in and accused the British authorities of “abandoning” their citizens while evacuating diplomats from the war-torn African nation.
The family fled their house in the capital in recent days, where fighting sparked by a vicious power struggle between the Sudanese Army and a powerful paramilitary force has killed hundreds and injured thousands.
And with basic food supplies running desperately low and power blackouts frequent, the 36-year-old English teacher is now struggling to keep in contact with frantic loved ones at home on Islay in the Inner Hebrides from the property where they are holed up in the suburb of Aj Jaraf.
Jennifer said: “We want our Government to give us some hope that they are going to do something for us.
“There has been no on the ground contact from anyone whatsoever. The only information we have received are a few updates on the UK Government web page.
“It might as well say ‘we’ve got no consular help for you. We’ve taken our diplomats and you’re on your own’.
“With the recent international evacuations the two sides have been relatively quiet but, now they’re done, the fighting is only going to increase and intensify and that’s the worry now.
“I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this.
“We are stuck here and it’s terrifying.”
The fighting between the army and RSF has led to violence across Sudan for more than a week.
A growing list of countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from the capital.
The US and UK announced they had flown diplomats out of the country at the weekend, along with France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The UK government said it had managed to airlift diplomats and their families out of the country in a “complex and rapid” operation but Foreign Minister James Cleverly said options to evacuate an estimated 4,000 nationals in Sudan were “severely limited”.
Jennifer has been living in Sudan for around 15 years after meeting her Sudanese husband when he was studying in Glasgow.
The couple had two boys and two girls, aged between two and 15, and Jennifer got a job teaching English at a University.
But the family’s lives were turned upside down when a heavy bombardment began in the capital in recent days.
Bombing and shooting has cut electricity and safe access to food and water for much of the population.
Convoys of United Nations vehicles have been leaving Khartoum in recent days heading east towards Port Sudan on the Red Sea but the family have not been able to leave.
Jennifer said: “They’re telling us to stay in place but the only option we can see is to try and make our way to the border in Egypt. We are trying to shield the kids from the news as much as possible and not make them afraid but I’m fraught with worry.
“It’s very hard when they’re asking ‘mum when are we going to go?’ I don’t have an answer for them.
“We have no access to our bank at the moment so no way to pull together the funds to get out. We have no way to bring money into the country so we’re pretty stuck.
“We don’t have any fuel in our car. My husband has been walking around in our small area to get bread and supplies on foot. To venture out further is very dangerous.
“We have some food and electricity on the meter but when that runs out we have no way of topping it up. We have the water we have in our tanks but that has got to last us for the foreseeable. There is no more after that.
“Here we have a group of expat ladies married to Sudanese and we help each other in all aspects of life. We are seeing other nationalities have got their citizens out but us British are still sitting here.
“There are only a few of us left and some have taken desperate measures to go outside of the city to other areas. People have been robbed, shot and looted on the way. It’s very scary.
“The fact they just tell you to check your emails when they know we don’t have internet is insane.
“We’re very lucky today that the internet has come back on one network for a short period of time. We’re running out of credit and when that goes there are no top ups.
“The anxiety it is causing is insane. It’s hard to keep it together.
The World Health Organization said more than 400 people have been killed and thousands injured. But the death toll is believed to be much higher as people are struggling to get healthcare, as most of the city’s hospitals have been forced to close by the fighting.
The UN said up to 20,000 people - mostly women and children - had so far fled Sudan to seek safety across the border from Darfur.
SNP MP Brendan O’Hara has been trying to assist Jennifer and raise the family’s desperate situation with the UK Government.
Meanwhile, Jennifer’s family are frantically awaiting updates at home between power blackouts.
Her uncle Donald Gillies, 59, said: “The Government has left and the citizens are left behind.
“We need someone to go and get them out. They need boots on the ground.
“They need to help everybody.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The safety of all British nationals in Sudan continues to be our utmost priority. We recognise that this is an extremely worrying and distressing situation for those trapped by the fighting.
“We are urgently exploring all routes for British nationals to leave Sudan should they wish to.
“Our advice to British nationals continues to be to stay indoors wherever possible and contact the Foreign Office to register your local and contact details.”
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