News / Sudan
Sudanese community rallies together in Bristol
Sudanese people who live in Bristol are rallying together as war rages in their home country and they await news from their families.
Mohamed Makawi, an aircraft engineer and Green councillor for Cotham, said his parents and siblings were trapped in the war-torn country’s capital city Khartoum.
“The situation is out of control,” Makawi told Bristol24/7. “All the inhabitants in the capital have been affected.”
is needed now More than ever
Fighting has erupted in Khartoum and across the country as rival military factions are battling for control.
More than 450 people have been killed in the conflict and another 4,000 wounded so far, according to the World Health Organisation.
The Sudanese Community Association, of which Makawi has been part of for 25 years, is raising money to help families affected by the crisis.
Makawi has lived in Cotham for 25 years
“They have taken hold of the military, presidential palace and the airport,|” said Makawi, who came to the Bristol as a political refugee in 1997.
“People can’t get medical care, there is no-one to bury bodies, no water, no electricity. This militia is targeting the infrastructure.
“They fight everywhere. They are destroying everything. There is no food, no bank open or money and communications are on and off.
“That is what is worrying us as a Sudanese community in Bristol and the diaspora to communicate with our families and to know they are okay. We have been worried for 15 days. We don’t sleep, we don’t work well, all we can focus on is our family.”
He set out the association’s pleas, which include a cease-fire and its implementation, safe passages for civilians and ambulance crews to reach the wounded, the reopening of hospitals and restoring of communications, internet, electricity and water services.
A ceasefire between Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and military has been extended for three more days, but there are continuing reports of heavy fighting. The British evacuation mission has rescued at least 897 people, with around 4,000 British passport holders thought to be in the country.
All photos: Betty Woolerton
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