Sudan: Doctor working in Belfast pleads for help in evacuating her family from war torn state

Almost two weeks of fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary group have left hundreds of people dead.

Despite an ongoing ceasefire there are continuing reports of heavy fighting in the capital Khartoum.

A previous truce allowed thousands of people to attempt to flee to safety, while dozens of countries have tried to evacuate their citizens.

There has been a steady breakdown in normal services, such as banking and healthcare, with communications also severely disrupted.

Dr Sarah Ahmed, 39, trainee obstetrician and gynecologist in Belfast, came to work in NI in 2017.

She left Sudan in 2007 and has also worked in London and Kilkenny.

Earlier this year - before the violence erupted - she secured six-month UK residency permits for her father and mother, Ahmed and Shadia.

On Thursday evening their documents secured them a place on a British military flight out of the country and on their way to be reunited with her.

However her siblings and their families were refused places on the plane.

Her sister Marwa and her husband Ali and their three children and her other sister Salma and her son are now stranded and looking for a way out of the country.

Her brother Montasir and his heavily pregnant wife Alaa are also stranded there.

The family lived in one house in Khartoum, divided up into different apartments, but it has been seriously damaged by the fighting and they have had to flee the capital.

"I am really distressed, I don't want them to die," Dr Ahmed told the News Letter.

"I am concerned that if they remain where they are they will face a slow death due to lack of food and healthcare."

They are now looking at buying bus tickets to travel to Egypt - but prices have now reached almost £500 each.

"But even if you have bought tickets, some of the buses are stopping half way there and they are ejecting passengers in the middle of nowhere in order to take on more passengers, just for profits."

While her two sisters and their families have their passports, her brother and his wife were not able to collect theirs due to the violence.

So while her sisters could be granted access to cross the border into Egypt - if they can make it that far - she says her brother and his wife cannot.

"If there are any organisations that can help evacuate these innocent people and their children out of this warzone, please can they help us?" she pleads.

"Sudan is not that big, the population is less than that of Cairo and about half of them have already fled."

An Irish citizen, having worked in the south for seven years, she asked: "Perhaps the Irish embassy can give them the right to come here or stay here or just even temporarily and then when the war is done they can go back?"

The News Letter has contacted the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs for comment.