A Waterford man visiting his mum in Sudan has been hailed a hero for risking his life to supply water to her neighbourhood.
Waleed Saeed, 49, teamed up with about 20 volunteers and drove through rebel-held strongholds in a lorry to reach the Nile.
The healthcare assistant, who has since been evacuated to Cyprus on an RAF flight, was on holiday in Bahri in northern Khartoum when violence broke out on April 15.
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Once the fighting began a lot of basic services broke down with food and water becoming increasingly scarce.
He said: “Since April 15, the firing has never stopped … "It's not safe to even step out of your door.
"There's no food and the Rapid [Support] Forces control the water. But we try to help each other. Sometimes you get stopped, but we try.
“It's high-risk on the Nile because you can get shot from a long distance away. But we had to get that water. We used it to drink, for washing.”
He told The Daily Telegraph: “We delivered it to a lot of people, to the sick and the elderly. We used tanks of all sizes, anything we could get."
It comes as Tanaiste Micheal Martin announced yesterday (SUN) 209 Irish citizens and their dependents have been evacuated from the country.
The majority were helped out of the African nation on flights operated by the British government which landed in Cyprus.
He also confirmed that the Emergency Civil Assistance Team would now be withdrawn after the successful evacuations.
Mr. Martin, who is also the Foreign Affairs Minister, said: “I wish to thank the Ecat team and all those involved in our consular response.
“Our primary aim has been to offer our citizens every assistance through what has been an extremely difficult and challenging time.
“Our experienced consular teams in Dublin and in the region will continue to actively respond to the needs of our citizens as the situation evolves.
“I would like to thank our EU partners, the UK, Jordan, Norway, and Djibouti for their strong co-operation in this challenging mission.”
It is understood more than 500 have been killed while thousands more have been injured since the fighting broke out.
Fighting erupted in the African nation earlier this month when the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group known as Rapid Support Forces clashed.
It is the first time there has been bloodshed between both groups since they formed an alliance in 2019 - but experts have said there has always been a tussle for power.
There have been a number of ceasefire attempts in order to allow foreign nationals to flee - but they have all collapsed.
The latest was supposed to end last night (SUN) but fighting intensified yesterday in the capital of Khartoum when the army said it was attacking the city from all directions, with air strikes and heavy artillery in an attempt to flush out its paramilitary rivals.
Speaking about before the truce collapsed, Elbarrahuss Hussein called it a “lie” while Mr. Saeed said people were being used as “human shields”.
Mr. Hussein said that he had seen civilians killed by Sudanese military aircraft.
He explained: "Everyone's lying, there is no ceasefire …It's a lie. Bodies are lying in the streets. They're beginning to smell."
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