Welland, Ont., man recounts 'dangerous' journey to Egypt as he flees fighting in Sudan

Hisham Mohamed was in Sudan visiting relatives when fighting broke out between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF).

The Welland, Ont., resident is currently in Cairo, Egypt, hoping family members left behind will make it safely across the border so that they can travel with him to Canada.

Speaking on CBC Radio's The Current and Metro Morning on Tuesday, Mohamed recalled his treacherous journey to get away from the fighting.

"It was quite [the] journey. I took cars, I took motorcycles [and] buses until I finally made it to the border," he said.

"It is very dangerous and it's challenging. You go from a checkpoint to another checkpoint and between, you know, you're hoping nothing will erupt or no fight is going to go until you reach to the next step. And you take it from there step by step." 

Mohamed said it took him about three days to reach the border. 

Fighting erupted in Sudan's capital Khartoum and at other sites across the country on April 15 as the powerful rival military factions battled for control. More than 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and more than 3,700 have been wounded in the fighting.

'I will never forget that incident'

Mohamed, who had a scheduled flight back home on April 18, remembered the moment when he knew he had to get out of Sudan after the fighting started.

"The day before I decided to make a move … [there was] no water, no power, nothing. We were trying to get from the neighborhood … to look for water and get water," he said.

He said they were stopped by "military people" who were talking to them and the occupants of another car.

"And they just shot [the] other guy in a car. I will never forget that incident," he said. 

"That's when I realized, you know, just for water that's happening. I said there is no way I can stay here and wait. That's when I decided I'm going to take this dangerous journey and hopefully I will make it."

Mohamed said he reached out to Global Affairs "from the first day."

"I talked to them [and] they said, 'just register your name, we're aware of the situation and we don't have any plan yet for evacuation or anything. Just take shelter and stay safe,'" he recalled.

Mohamed said he called again on the second and third days but the response was the same.

Since then he said he's been unable to reach anyone at Global Affairs and no one has contacted him, even though "they have my email, my phone number, nobody contacted me. Nothing happened."

He said the Canadian government should "at least" call "those people on the list, give them a call, see where they are," and update them on what is happening.

CBC Hamilton requested comment from Global Affairs Canada on what people like Mohamed can expect from them but has yet to hear back.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there are Canadian aircraft and warships in the region. "We're looking at doing direct airlifts, lifts of Canadians and their dependents," he said.

"There's very limited places where those airlifts can happen from," he said.

On Sunday scores of Sudanese Canadians gathered at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto to call for an end to the fighting.

They also used their peaceful demonstration to call on the Canadian government to help them sponsor relatives who are stuck in Sudan or having to flee to bordering countries to escape the fighting.

Ashraf Ahmed, president of the Sudanese Canadian Community Association, said community members are "worried sick" about the situation in Sudan.

"Unfortunately for Sudanese Canadians currently trapped over there, they are hopeless, they are not able to evacuate … they are running out of food supplies and no one knows what's going to happen given the desperateness," Ahmed told CBC News. 

"Tell you the truth, all of us, including them over there, we start to feel abandoned by the international community and we hope that our government will do something to help."

Ottawa announced Sunday that Canada is temporarily suspending operations in Sudan, and that Canadian diplomats will work "from a safe location outside the country … to support Canadians still in the country."

On Saturday, the federal government said removing people by air was not possible, and that officials were "coordinating with other countries to respond to the crisis."

Nearly 1,600 Canadians are registered as being in Sudan as of Saturday, according to Global Affairs Canada.