A family fleeing Sudan says they are among thousands stranded at the Egyptian border as drivers demand $40,000 (£31,810) to hire a bus to cross.
Only people traveling in buses with a special permit can cross the border. Walking is prohibited.
A family of seven, including three children under the age of 10, escaped fighting in the capital Khartoum two days ago.
Fadi Atabani said his family, including an 88-year-old woman, was trapped.
“There are thousands of people here. There is no housing. People are sleeping in schools or [on mattresses],” he told JEE News from the border town of Wadi Halfa.
Most of the family hold British citizenship and Mr Attabani is appealing for help from the British authorities.
“I cannot guarantee the medical health of my children here as we are in the middle of the desert. I want the British government to help me get out or a bus to take us across the border,” he said.
Mr Atbani accused local bus drivers of taking advantage of the desperate situation commuters found themselves in.
“A typical day costs $3,000 to hire a bus. To date people are paying $40,000 to hire a bus to the border – just 30km,” he said.
“Who has that kind of money? Banks were closed, ATM machines weren’t working,” said the 53-year-old.
Meanwhile, Khartoum resident Hasna, who declined to give her name, told JEE News that her two daughters were stuck in the Sudanese capital. He said they face fares of more than $400 each to get to the border. Before the fight started, the trip cost about $25.
Hasna had reached the Egyptian city of Aswan before the conflict began. “My daughters saw an artillery shell fall in our neighborhood. I couldn’t bring them here. I don’t have a husband or a son to help them. I work day and night to save money,” she said. ,” he said.
To try to earn money, he took a job in a tea shop at the same bus station that has become a refugee center near Aswan.
“Sudan has been completely destroyed. They [militants] are targeting people in their homes,” Hasna said.
Esra Bani, a Sudanese-American educator who has flown out to help people arriving in Aswan, said bus prices have risen “astronomically”.
“They funded their own evacuation, they have been stripped of their dignity,” he told JEE News.
Clashes began on April 15 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). So far, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured in this battle.
On Monday, both sides agreed to a three-day ceasefire, which was renewed on Thursday. Despite this, clashes continue in some areas.
Fighting is ravaging the capital and its environs – which until recently had a population of around 10 million – leaving people without food, water and fuel supplies.
Mr Atbani said he left his home in Khartoum with only a few clothes.
“I left Khartoum with all my valuables in my house. Do I still have a house there? God only knows at the end of it. We only grabbed what we could.”
Relatives in Britain say repeated attempts to get help from the Foreign Office have been unsuccessful.
Officials have told them British nationals can only be evacuated from Wadi Saidna airfield near Khartoum, a dangerous two-day journey by bus.
“It’s very difficult to get to this airport,” Mr Attani told JEE News. “They say you go to the airport at your own risk, why should I put my family at risk?”
Turkey said on Thursday that an evacuation plane was fired upon as it was about to land in the Saydna Valley.
In a statement to JEE News, the Foreign Office said it had been “working vigorously to evacuate British nationals since the outbreak of violence in Sudan, in a complex and highly volatile environment”.
“British nationals in Sudan are our number one priority and we urge those wishing to leave the country to travel to a British evacuation center as soon as possible,” the statement added.
As of Thursday evening, 897 people had been evacuated from Wadi Saeedna Airfield, the Foreign Office said.
However, JEE News has spoken to a British Sudanese doctor who is being evacuated by the RAF in the eastern Red Sea city of Port Sudan. There are dozens of British Sudanese nationals waiting to be evacuated from Port Sudan, but no evacuation flights have yet arrived.
