By Adia Jildo
Hundreds of South Sudanese students caught up in deadly fighting, between rival military factions in the Sudanese capital have resigned to fate as several pleas for help to their embassy have gone unanswered.
Charles Lam, a student of Petroleum Engineering at the International University of Africa, told Juba Echo on Friday that he and other students holed up in dingy rental houses in Amarat suburb of Khartoum are afraid of coming out to buy food and water.
The escalation in fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Gen.Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left more than 330 people killed and thousands injured.
“We are residing in Amarat which is more insecure. There is no way out for the embassy to help us. Yesterday, we called the education and cultural attaché to help us, but she is unable to help, she is also stuck,” Lam said in a video interview online.
“We called so that we can be evacuated because the place is very dangerous, there is no way out. We are just here we do not have electricity, water and are starving,” he added.
Lam said they are in total13 of them who are caught up in this situation.
“We see bullets flying over, we are scared. The windows are broken. We are suffering a lot,” he said.
Another student, Joseph Malook, studying for his Bachelor of nursing at the University of Imam al Mahdi, said he is worried for his parents and relatives back home in Juba. Malook said his situation has brought stress and anxiety to his family members who are worried about his own safety.
He said he has been receiving distressing calls from his parents and relatives since violence erupted Saturday last week.
“I lost hope as I continued to hear sounds of guns and planes flying over,” Malook said.
“I could not belief that I was facing an experience I had never experienced in my whole life. It’s scaring, its hard to believe that this is a life we are going to live until we are rescued,” he added.
Malook said that when they called the South Sudan embassy in Khartoum for help, they were only advised by officials to stay indoors.
“We cannot get away to get food because of fear of crossfire. There is no food, no water, no electricity,” he disclosed.
Malook called on authorities in Juba to help evacuate them to safety.
The ongoing fighting between the SAF and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted after disagreement between the two sides over the period of integration for the RSF into the national army.
Gen. Al Burhan had suggested two years period while the leader of the RSF Dagalo better known as Hemedti preferred 10 year period to integrate his forces.
Thje two sides are part of the several signatories to the Frame Work Agreement which was supposed to be finalized prior to outbreak of the recent conflict.
The Agreement was meant to lead to handover of power from the military to civilian leaders.
