A teacher in Massachusetts and her 18-month-old daughter are among thousands of Americans trapped in war-torn Sudan.
Trillian Clifford, of Ashland, and her daughter, Alma, were hiding from the sounds of machine guns outside their apartment in the capital, Khartoum, where Trillian taught the children of US embassy officials at the Khartoum International American School.
Her family back home is now calling on the United States to take action and get Clifford and her daughter out of Africa’s third-largest country as government officials evacuated nearly 100 embassy officials over the weekend.
But the White House said it had no plans to evacuate the estimated 16,000 US citizens stuck in Sudan, even after it issued a travel advisory warning of “armed conflict, civil disorder, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.”
One American has already been killed in the conflict, and the World Health Organization estimates 413 people have been killed and 3,551 injured since the civil war broke out earlier this month.
Trillian Clifford, of Ashland, and her daughter, Alma, are among an estimated 16,000 Americans trapped in war-torn Sudan.
Smoke was seen rising in the capital, Khartoum, last week as fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Clifford and her daughter now live in a place in the Soba district of Khartoum, where they were moved to an apartment lowered to the ground after the airstrikes occurred less than a kilometer from her home.
I told WBUR They are now in a ‘relatively safe place’, although I must add, as a warning, that nowhere in the city is particularly safe.
“We hear a lot of gunshots and explosions,” Clifford said in an audio note emailed to the radio station. “There are definitely planes flying overhead all day long.”
Clifford added that she ‘takes orders from the embassy – and from employers as well – very seriously to stay low to the ground, stay as far away from windows as possible and stay hidden, because this is very dangerous. to participate in it.
The baby’s mother is now trying to wean her baby off breast milk, her sister-in-law, Rebecca Winter, told Boston GlobeNoting that “there was no humanitarian aid due to the ongoing fighting.”
“It went from everything that was completely normal eight days ago to a sudden war that started overnight,” Winter explained to WBUR.
The US Embassy told her…for several days that because the fighting was so intense – and even the Sudanese people had never seen such intense fighting in the capital – they had no idea if or when they would be able to do it. Get supplies for her, such as food and water.
Winter is now calling on US government officials to safely evacuate her family, who continue to suffer from power loss as temperatures reach more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Over the weekend, the State Department reiterated its “no travel” warning.
“The situation is violent, volatile and highly unpredictable, especially in the capital, Khartoum,” she added.
Clifford, left, works at the Khartoum International American School, where she teaches children of US embassy officials
Clifford said she and her daughter are now in a “relatively safe place.”
But a White House National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, said on Friday that American citizens should “make their own arrangements to stay safe in difficult circumstances.”
“Americans should not expect an evacuation coordinated by the US government at this time,” he said. “And we expect that to remain the case.”
The US Embassy also issued an advisory on Saturday warning that “given the volatile security situation in Khartoum and the airport closure, it is not currently safe to carry out US government-coordinated evacuations of private US citizens.”
“Should evacuations of private US citizens become necessary, such an announcement will be made by Travel Alert and Travel Advisory,” it said.
President Joe Biden has since said in a statement He receives regular reports from his team about efforts to help Americans stuck in Sudan “to the extent possible” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US government “will continue to assist Americans” and “continue to coordinate with allies.”
“We will continue to help Americans in Sudan plan for their safety and provide regular updates to US citizens in the area,” he said in a statement. “We will also continue to coordinate with our allies and partners as well as our local partners on efforts to ensure the safety of their personnel.”
Meanwhile, Christopher Meyer, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Warfare, shared a way forward for Americans who may want to leave.
“In the coming days, we will continue to work with the State Department to assist US citizens who may wish to leave Sudan,” he said.
One such way is to make the overland routes out of Sudan more viable. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense is currently considering measures that may include the use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to be able to monitor routes and detect threats.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that he is monitoring the situation in Sudan
A still from an AFP video shows a convoy leaving Khartoum towards Port Sudan, on Sunday, as people flee Sudan’s war-torn capital.
Saudi citizens and Saudi Arabian Airlines employees pose for a group photo upon their arrival at Jeddah seaport after being evacuated by a Saudi navy ship from Sudan to escape conflict.
Meanwhile, the US government has successfully evacuated nearly 100 US embassy employees and their families from the war-torn country.
“(Yesterday), at 9 a.m. E.D., a unit of US forces set out from Djibouti and landed in Ethiopia,” said Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, director of Joint Staff Operations.
He added that this comes within the framework of the United States’ efforts to close the embassy in Khartoum.
The commander of US forces in Africa and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley also said they are in contact with the warring factions before and during the operation to ensure that US forces have safe passage to conduct the evacuation.
But John Bass, the US Undersecretary of State, denied allegations by the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Security Forces that they assisted in the US evacuation.
And in his statement over the weekend, Biden thanked the embassy and US military staff who expelled the Americans.
“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our embassy staff, who have performed their duties with courage and professionalism and exemplified America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” he said. “I am grateful for the unparalleled skill of our service personnel who successfully carried them to safety.”
The president added that the embassy was temporarily closed, but “our commitment to the Sudanese people and the future they want for themselves is endless.”
Fighting broke out in the country on April 15 between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces after disagreements over how to transition the country to civilian rule.
The situation is quickly turning into a humanitarian crisis, with the World Health Organization estimating 413 people have been killed and 3,551 injured since the outbreak of the civil war earlier this month.
Fighting broke out in the country on April 15 between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces after disagreements over how to transition the country to civilian rule.
Both factions previously teamed up to overthrow the government in October 2021, and in December, both generals signed a framework promising a transition away from military rule.
But their alliance has collapsed over disagreements over how to transition to civilian rule, how the RSF should be integrated into the armed forces, and which authority should oversee the process.
Since then calls for a ceasefire have been ignored, and the situation quickly degenerates into a humanitarian crisis.
On Saturday, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, said, “We all need to sit down as Sudanese and find the right path to restore hope and life,” but the head of the Sudanese army, Mohamed Hamdal Dagalo, said he would not do so. negotiation with the group.
