The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that Abdullah Shulgami, a Briton who owns a hotel in London, was living with his wife, Alawiya Rashwan, 80, near the British diplomatic base in Khartoum.
According to the report, Britain did not offer to help Shalgami leave Sudan, but he was asked to go to an airport 40 kilometers from Khartoum, where he had to pass through an area of armed conflict, to board an evacuation flight.
Details of what happened
Faced with hunger and lack of water, Shalgami had to leave his wife to get help. When he left the house, the octogenarian was shot three times in the hand, in the chest and lower back, by a sniper. Shulgami survived after being moved to a relative in another part of Khartoum. The man underwent surgery without anesthesia in Khartoum, which was performed by his son, who is a doctor, and then managed to flee to Egypt, where he is being treated. As for his wife, she was left to fend for herself, as it was impossible for them to reach her in the area surrounded by snipers, and as a result she died of starvation.
granddaughter certificate
Shulgami’s granddaughter Azhar, who grew up in Khartoum, said the British Embassy was “a short walk from her grandparents’ house”. “What happened to my grandfather and my grandmother is a crime against humanity, not only by the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army, but by the British Embassy, because it was the only one who could have prevented what happened to them,” according to Azhar.
The UK Foreign Office commented
Commenting on the tragic incident that Shulgami and his wife suffered, a spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said:
The last evacuation flight for the UK departed on May 3, ending the longest and largest evacuation of any Western country. The successful operation led to the evacuation of over 2,450 people on 30 flights, the vast majority of whom were British nationals and their families. “The case of Sholgamy is very sad. The ongoing military conflict means that Sudan remains dangerous. Our ability to provide consular assistance is very limited and we cannot provide personal support inside Sudan,” according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
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