Shooting at Bangladesh ambassador's house, embassy in Sudan
At least 1500 Bangladeshi citizens got stuck amid the continued power struggle between the two forces in Sudan. The residence of Bangladesh's acting ambassador (charge d'affaires) Tarek Ahmed in the capital Khartoum came under machine gun attack on 15 April, at the onset of fighting between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A week later, machine gun fire broke the windows and walls of the Bangladesh embassy during fighting between the two warring sides. However, no one from the Bangladesh embassy was hurt in these two shooting incidents.
Bangladesh Embassy in Sudan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka confirmed this to Prothom Alo. Amid the crisis, Bangladesh embassy officials led by the acting ambassador, have started the process of evacuating Bangladeshis staying in the country safely from outside Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
Speaking to officials of the foreign ministry in Dhaka, it is learned that the Bangladesh embassy in Khartoum has been in regular touch with Dhaka since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan. Some countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, offered to send Bangladeshi diplomats back to the country. But the acting ambassador continued to work in Khartoum.
He is staying in Madani town of Al Jazirah state, which is about 250 miles from Khartoum as the situation exacerbated. He has been working on the process of returning the citizens of Bangladesh to safety from there.
A senior official of the foreign ministry office in Dhaka told Prothom Alo that acting ambassador Tarek Ahmed cited three options to deal with the situation in his last message on Monday. He stressed on sending back Bangladeshis staying in Sudan.
A diplomatic source, seeking anonymity, said that for the time being, the plan is to take people who are interested to return to Bangladesh from Khartoum by bus to Port of Sudan. Then they will be evacuated to Saudi Arabia by ship or ferry. From there they will be brought back to Bangladesh.
According to the source, so far more than four hundred Bangladeshis agreed to return home from Sudan. The shelling has reduced significantly in the past two days. In this situation, preparations are being made initially to send back 500 Bangladeshis.
How the ambassador left Khartoum
This correspondent spoke with Bangladesh's acting ambassador Tarek Ahmed in Khartoum over phone on Tuesday afternoon. He said that his residence was near the airport and the military base which is exactly at the centre of the fight.
Regarding the attack on his residence and embassy, Tarek Ahmed told Prothom Alo, "Even after machine gun fire hit my house, we continued to work in Khartoum. But on 20 April, on the advice of a friendly country in Europe, I left the mission and the residence.
He said, seven people including his wife, colleagues and their family members travelled in the same car. The area was deserted. Soon the paramilitary forces stopped their car to question. Although the destination was unknown, at one stage it was decided that they would go to the area where the third secretary of the embassy and the administrative officer live.
The acting ambassador said that there was a ceasefire on 19 April. At that time, five diplomats of Malaysia left for the airport in a car of the country’s embassy. On the way paramilitary forces blocked their way. Malaysian diplomats have asked the RSF members why they were detained. The angry Sudanese paramilitary forces seized the Malaysian diplomats' mobile phones and forced them to get off the car and return to the mission.
Tarek Ahmed said, "We were aware of the incident between Malaysian diplomats and RSF members. So on 20 April, when RSF members stopped us on the road, we got off the car as they said. We also had to hand them our mobile phones. Later they let us leave after our Sudanese driver talked to them. We stay away from home and embassy that day. On 22 April we went back to Khartoum as we left our passports and some essentials at home and office. Returning to Khartoum, we found the building where we lived completely empty. The security personnel have also left. In such a situation, it seemed appropriate to move away from Khartoum.”
Madani city is 240 kilometres away from Khartoum. Bangladeshi businessman Abul Khair opened the cotton processing company Bangladesh-Sudan Cotton and Ginning Industries in 2019. It was mainly on his initiative that Bangladesh's acting ambassador, his wife and others from the mission were moved to this city.
Abul Khair told Prothom Alo, "The situation in Khartoum was deteriorating despite the fighting relatively eased for the last two days. Despite the ambassador was reluctant, I requested him to leave the capital as he would not be able to help others if he was not safe himself.”
Abul Khair said, "At first I wanted to send a car to Khartoum to bring the ambassador and officials. Then I came to know RSF members hijack vehicles and use those in the fight. Later they came to the bus station in a rented old Hiace car. We brought them here in our company's pickup van from there.”
Meanwhile, minister of state for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam, wrote in a Facebook post in the evening that it has been decided to start the process of bringing Bangladeshi citizens back safely from Sudan through other countries. The Bangladesh embassy in Khartoum has already spread this message among the Bangladeshis staying there.
* This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat