Sudan Crisis: Bus Drivers Demand $40,000 To Help Cross Egypt Border, Family Says As Travel Costs Surge

Sudan Crisis: People looking to flee Sudan and enter neighbouring Egypt are facing exorbitant costs as only people travelling on buses with special permits can cross the border.

A family from Sudan said that they are among thousands stuck at the country's border with Egypt trying to flee amid the conflict. Their woes are further increased by drivers who are demanding $40,000 to hire a bus to cross the border. The conflict between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to hundreds dying while tens of thousands of people fled for their lives in two weeks of conflict. Together, the factions toppled a civilian government in an October 2021 coup and are now locked in a power struggle that derailed an internationally backed transition to democracy. The conflict threatens to destabilise the fragile region.

According to a report by the BBC, people looking to flee Sudan and enter neighbouring Egypt are facing exorbitant costs as only people travelling on buses with special permits can cross the border while crossing on foot is prohibited.

A seven-member family, including three children under 10, escaped the fighting in the capital city Khartoum two days ago. Fadi Atabani said that his family, including an 88-year-old woman, were trapped, the report mentioned.

"There are thousands of people here. There is no accommodation. People are sleeping in schools or [on] mattresses," he told the BBC from the border town of Wadi Halfa.

Most members of the family have British nationality and Atabani is urging the UK authorities for help.

"I cannot guarantee my children's medical health here we are in the middle of the desert. I want the British government to assist me in evacuating or a bus which can get us across the border," he said, as quoted by the report.

He accused local bus drivers of taking advantage of the desperate situation amid the Sudan crisis.

"On a normal day the cost of hiring a bus is $3,000. As of today people are paying $40,000 to charter a bus to the border - only 30km," the 53-year-old claimed, as per the BBC.

"Who has that sort of money? The banks were closed, ATM machines are not working," he said.

The report mentioned a Khartoum resident named Hosna as saying that she had two daughters trapped in the Sudanese capital. She informed that they faced fares of over $400 each to travel to the border while earlier, the journey cost around $25.

She had arrived in the Egyptian city of Aswan before the violence began to try and make money for which she took a job serving in a tea shop at the bus station that has now become a hub for refugees near Aswan. "My daughters saw an artillery shell fall in our neighbourhood. I could not bring them here. I don't have a husband or a son to help them. I work day in day out to save money," she told the BBC.

"Sudan is completely destroyed. They [fighters] are targeting people in their homes," Hosna said.

A Sudanese-American academic Esraa Bani flew to Aswan to help people arriving. She also maintained that the bus prices had increased "astronomically".

"They funded their own evacuation, they are stripped out of dignity. It is such a painfully disastrous situation," she told the BBC.

Sudan Conflict: Army, RSF Agree To Extend 72-Hour Ceasefire

According to news agency Reuters, the Sudanese Army on Wednesday said that it agreed to a new three-day ceasefire through Sunday after one that was to expire on Thursday night. On Thursday, the military maintained that it would extend the truce and said it would honour it unilaterally.

Responding for the first time, the RSF also said on Thursday that it approved another 72-hour truce starting Friday. The United Nations, African Union, African trade bloc IGAD  and several nations welcomed the development including countries like the U.S., U.K., Saudi Arabia, and UAE.

Even with a partial pause in fighting because of the first 72-hour ceasefire, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire could be heard on Thursday in the capital and the nearby cities of Omdurman and Bahri, Reuters cited witnesses and its journalists as informing.

The Sudanese army claims to control most of the country’s regions. It said it is defeating a large RSF deployment in Khartoum where some residential areas have become war zones.

The White House stated that it was deeply concerned by the ceasefire violations. According to the US, the situation could worsen at any moment and urged U.S. citizens to leave within 24 to 48 hours.