- Title: Sudan grandmother's death shows struggle to help those stranded in war
- Date: 15th May 2023
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 13, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE PHD STUDENT, AZHAAR SHOLGAMI, SAYING: “A whole clash happened because there was a group of people that was trying to evacuate my grandmother and my parents and my cousin, my cousin, his wife. They drove off that that towards the end they gave up, and they drove off to try and get her, and then, five minutes before they reach the house, they got shot at as well with snipers. Thankfully no one was injured. A couple of other security guards who were attempting to reach her also got shot. No one was injured, too, so I mean it was, it's the area where no one can enter, no one can exit." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE PHD STUDENT, AZHAAR SHOLGAMI, SAYING: “So we were just waiting to get my grandmother out, so we can leave Sudan and get my grandpa to fly out to London. And then, yeah, four days ago I woke up to a message on Twitter from the Turkish Embassy. They ask for my number. I gave them my number. I received the call from a diplomat, and I was very happy when I received this call, because I thought it was gonna tell me that they're about to evacuate my grandma, that you know they're asking where our location is, where they should drop her off. And then he goes off to tell me that I'm sorry to tell you this, but your grandmother passed away. And I took it in well, and then I thanked him, I thanked him for being considerate enough to include them into, include my grandparents, he still thought my grandfather was inside, so to include my grandparents in their evacuation plan. Given that my grandparents are not Turkish. They have nothing to do with Turkey, but they were considerate enough to to include them in their plan. And then I picked up the phone again, called him back and asked him: Did you check her pulse? Maybe she's in the coma? Maybe there's still hope. And then he tells me that her body is decaying, which goes off to show that she's been passed away a few days ago, you know, a few days before we were informed. We still don't know when the day of her passing is, and we still haven't buried her. We're still unable to reach the area, we're begging for the military, we're begging for the SAF for begging for anyone to just at least bury her in our backyard." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE PHD STUDENT, AZHAAR SHOLGAMI, SAYING: "My grandmother died alone, and that breaks my heart because she'd always tell me that she's scared of being alone, and i'd make sure that you know me, and my cousins would make sure that we would be with her when no one was in the house, would be sleeping over with her. So it breaks my mind that she died of starvation, that she died in the heat. We know electricity in the midst of the most heated region in Khartoum, where there is bombings almost 24 hours, this ammunition 24 hours, and also that she died alone. It breaks our heart that even if she was to be buried at home, she's going to be buried alone with no family members. To this moment, we're still unable to reach her body." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE PHD STUDENT, AZHAAR SHOLGAMI, SAYING: "They've been married for 60 years. I know that my grandfather would not leave. He still doesn't know we don't know how to break it to him. He keeps on saying that you know, Where's Mama? Let's go pick up Mama. And is my Mama okay, Did you guys contact Mama? And he was so tired, we had to take him from my parents, where my parents are staying to my cousin's house, because there's no electricity where my parents are, and it's quite hot. So he was really tired, he couldn't get up, and then we told him that we might be able to pick up Mama. And he immediately gets up, puts on his phone, and, you know, leaves so that he can go get my grandma, so we still haven't, we didn't break the news to him. But they are soulmates for 60 years, they started from nothing, built a whole empire but a whole family. So yeah, he would not be able to leave Khartoum when we do tell him, not him, not my cousins, not my father. Although it's quite risky being there right now. I still speak to my dad, and there's bombings right next to them, air strikes, ammunition, but no one's willing to leave it out, because you know that's the least they could do at this point to make sure that she's put to rest." WHITE FLASH 118. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE PHD STUDENT, AZHAAR SHOLGAMI, SAYING: "On behalf of my grandmother and my grandfather, and everything they've experienced, my mission is to is to bring justice to the oppression they've been experiencing, and the discrimination they've both experienced during this evacuation process. Bear in mind, we weren't even asking, the first time we reached out to the embassy, we weren't even asking for evacuation. We were just asking them to drop water and food, and just to confirm that they're okay. And any basic human who feels who values, has some sort of you know, sense of humanity would do so."
- Embargoed: 29th May 2023 11:21
- Keywords: Conflict Khartoum Sudan Sudan politics
- Location: KHARTOUM, SUDAN / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: KHARTOUM, SUDAN / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA005239414052023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:PART QUALITY AS INCOMING
As she tried to save her ailing grandparents stuck amid fighting in central Khartoum, Azhaar Sholgami put in calls from New York to Sudan's two warring factions, aid workers, and embassies near her grandparents' home, but her efforts were in vain.
Sholgami's grandmother died alone, her body still lying unburied at the family home. Her grandfather was shot three times while out seeking supplies and remains stranded with his wounds in Khartoum.
Her story echoes those of other desperate members of Sudan's diaspora and those outside the capital struggling to evacuate loved ones trapped under bombardment with little access to food or water as the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle in Khartoum.
"The process has been exhausting," said Sholgami, a student living in New York, as she detailed the family's increasingly frantic efforts to help the elderly couple, Alaweya Reshwan and Abdullah Sholgami, who were married for 60 years.
"My grandmother died alone and that breaks my heart because she'd always tell me that she's scared of being alone," she said.
Much of her anger and frustration is directed at the British embassy and what she sees as its reluctance to help her grandfather, a British citizen, because he also holds Sudanese nationality.
"The British embassy is four steps from my grandparents' house… My grandfather is also a British citizen. Every time we called or filled in a form, we would get asked if he had dual citizenship. How does that make him any less of a priority?" she said.
A British government spokesperson said Britain had carried out the longest and largest evacuation of any Western country from Sudan, and that its evacuation was open to British nationals and eligible family members.
A week into the conflict Britain and other Western countries began evacuating diplomats and other citizens. Sholgami's grandparents were not included. Living in a business district with no neighbors nearby and unable to charge their phones because the power was cut, they were alone.
RSF fighters took over their house - as Khartoum residents say they have done to homes across the city, though the group denies this.
After 10 days her grandfather drove out for supplies but was injured - shot in the hand, the chest and the lower back. An army soldier took him to hospital, leaving his wife alone at home.
The family did not learn he had been shot until days later and had to phone around Khartoum's few remaining hospitals to find out he was still alive. Sholgami intensified her efforts with the embassy.
"We wanted to see if they could just send them food or water. We tried at least 30 times to get them evacuated, but nothing worked," she said.
Eventually it was a Turkish diplomat that notified Azhaar of her grandmother's death, contacting her via Twitter and asking for her number.
"I thought he was going to tell me that they were about to evacuate my grandmother, but instead I found out she had passed away," she said.
Meanwhile the family are trying to arrange travel documents for her grandfather to come to Cairo as his passport remains in his office and impossible to reach.
"That she died of starvation, in the heat with no electricity... to this moment we are still unable to reach her body," she said.
"We're begging the RSF, begging anyone to just at least bury her in her own backyard."
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