tawandamusarurwa
Before long, dead bodies, including those of children, were strewn all over the place. We escaped death by a whisker
Emmanuel Kafe
When a missile hit his neighbour’s apartment, 45-year-old Antony instinctively knew that the safety and peace he had enjoyed for close to a decade was over.
His time in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, was up.
Earlier that fateful day, April 18, he had woken up to the sound of deafening explosions and whizzing fighter jets.
It felt surreal.
As he was still trying to make sense of it all, another loud blast shook his apartment building in Khartoum’s Al Amarat district, which confirmed to him that this was a real-life nightmare.
Before this unexpected turn of events, where tensions between the Sudanese army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated to open hostilities, Antony — a Zimbabwean — was employed as a science teacher in the northeast African country.
“From that morning, it become apparent that our lives were in danger. We were terrified,” Anthony, who elected not to give his full name, told The Sunday Mail.
“All our windows and doors were shattered and we felt very exposed.
“We covered the windows with cardboard boxes and furniture, and stayed in the apartment for days.
“Temperatures were too hot to bear during the day. There was no electricity or running water.”
As the conflict intensified, Anthony knew they had to leave the country for their own safety.
Great escape
“Before long, dead bodies, including those of children, were strewn all over the place. We escaped death by a whisker,” Anthony said.
Fleeing meant leaving behind all they had worked for and grown to love.
A fearful Anthony and a colleague knew that reaching the Zimbabwean embassy would give them a fighting chance.
However, the journey was treacherous, as they had to wade through areas that had been hit hardest by intense fighting.
Reaching the embassy, where they found their fellow countrymen, was quite a relief.
Zimbabwe became one of the first African countries to evacuate its citizens from the conflict-ravaged country.
The embassy took advantage of a window provided by a three-day ceasefire to organise a bus from Khartoum to Port Sudan on April 23. It was escorted by a convoy from the United Nations.
“We went through Wad Madani, El-Gadarif and Kassala by bus, and arrived at Port Sudan in the evening of April 24,” Anthony recounted.
Another evacuee, Mr Watson Nyakutira, said, although they were out of harm’s way, they could not easily forget the horrors of war they had left behind.
“We travelled a long way from Khartoum to Port Sudan. It took us around 25 hours,” he said.
They arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at 4am and got out of the ship at 8am on April 26, before they caught a flight to Zimbabwe via Dubai.
Upon stepping on home soil, they felt relieved and, at the same time, sad.
Anthony particularly felt a deep sense of loss for both the country and people he had left behind.
Sudan has become a war zone owing to a power struggle between the General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan-led Sudanese army and the RSF commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The capital, Khartoum, has mainly become the theatre of ferocious fighting between the belligerent forces.
Attempts to broker peace have been unsuccessful thus far, as the several ceasefires declared have failed to hold.
The warring factions even ignored a proposed three-day cessation of hostilities to mark the Ramadan, a Muslim holy month.
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Sudan Dr Emmanuel Runganga Gumbo said they managed to evacuate Zimbabweans who were caught up in the fighting by taking advantage of the first ceasefire.
“I rallied our nationals and told them to stay ready as I was mobilising logistics to move to Port Sudan, which was relatively safe,” he said.
“On Sunday morning, they would have to find their way to our embassy by 5.30am, from where we would raise down our flag for the last time and get onto a bus, which would take us to the United Nations offices for us to join the convoy.
“As they say, fortune favours the brave. We all risked our lives to get to the embassy and, thank God, no one was left behind.”
Overall, 65 people were successfully evacuated.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Permanent Secretary Ambassador James Manzou said Government was grateful that its citizens had escaped unharmed.
“We are happy we managed to evacuate the Zimbabwean nationals from harm. They are now in the country.
“Some of them are receiving medical attention from expert doctors, while others will be seen by psychologists,” he said.
Online Reporter