The Africa Thread

[SasaS]

5 hours ago, Anubis said:

Stuck in a holding cell by Egyptian border control for uttering the words “Now listen to me, I’m British, damn it.”

 

Whilst furiously honking the Bentley's horn?

 

[Red Phoenix]

Has there been anything from Bruce since tuesday? Anyone spoke in messages with him or anything? Wondering if he got out ok as well.

[Bruce Spanner]

Landed in London this morning.

 

Still working on getting friends and colleagues over the boarder.

[Red Phoenix]

50 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

Landed in London this morning.

 

Still working on getting friends and colleagues over the boarder.

 

Awesome, glad you made it back! Hope it goes well with friends and colleagues too.

[Bjornebye]

1 hour ago, Bruce Spanner said:

Landed in London this morning.

 

Still working on getting friends and colleagues over the boarder.

 

Glad you're ok lad. 

[Anubis]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65420882
 

By Joe Inwood

BBC Newsnight

 

An NHS doctor trapped in Sudan after visiting family for Eid has urged the government to fly him back to the UK, saying he feels "betrayed" after being turned away from evacuation flights. 

Sudanese-born Dr Abdulrahman Babiker is due back on shift as a registrar at the Manchester Royal Infirmary on Tuesday. 

Despite having a UK work permit, he cannot board an evacuation flight as they only accept UK passport holders. 

The Foreign Office says it is prioritising British nationals.

It added that people in Dr Babiker's situation are allowed to enter the UK but must make their own way there.

Khartoum International Airport has been shut for almost two weeks due to the fighting, while the borders of neighbouring countries are hundreds of miles away from the capital.

BBC Two's Newsnight has learned of at least 24 NHS doctors in this position. 

Dr Babiker, who has worked at the Manchester hospital for more than four years, told Newsnight: "To be honest I feel totally betrayed… I worked throughout Covid and I'm so disappointed."

• What is going on in Sudan? A simple guide
• Can Sudan refugees come to the UK legally?

It is certainly not how Dr Babiker expected his perilous journey to Wadi Seidna airbase to turn out. Speaking from a relative's home in neighbouring Omdurman, he says he hoped to be helped to escape the conflict which has already claimed hundreds of lives.

"I had spoken to my MP and had emails advising me to go to the air base," he says. 

For almost two weeks, rival factions within the Sudanese military have fought for control, destroying large sections of the capital Khartoum in the process and killing hundreds of civilians. 

After initially telling people to make their own way out of the country, the British Foreign office eventually put on a series of rescue flights.

But after 16 hours queuing at the site north of Khartoum, Dr Babiker was told he could not board.

"They said, 'we are really sorry, this is the guidance from the Home Office'. And a soldier took me out," he said. 

There are a large number of people in Sudan with ties to the UK, partially due to historical links between the two countries. 

Sudan was controlled as a British colony between the 1890s and 1956, when it became independent. 

More than 2,000 British nationals in Sudan have registered with the Foreign Office under evacuation plans.

In 2020, the Office of National Statistics estimated there were around 35,000 people living in the UK who were born in Sudan, including 20,000 Sudanese nationals.

 

IMAGE SOURCE, ABDULRAHMAN BABIKER  Image caption, 

Dr Babiker worked for the NHS through the Covid pandemic

Speaking on Newsnight, Dr Nadia Baasher of the Sudanese Junior Doctor's Association said Dr Babiker was just one example of a much larger problem. She said she knew of at least 24 NHS doctors in a similar position, having been caught in Sudan while on a short trip there, many of them for the Muslim celebration of Eid.

"People are heartbroken by the whole situation," she said.

She said that some of those who had gone to the airbase had taken the decision to leave their Sudanese families behind to return to their jobs working in the NHS - and some were travelling with their young children. 

"It's not safe. This is is very disappointing to see that they weren't treated with some consideration."

The operation to rescue British nationals has undoubtedly been a difficult one, with priority given to children, the sick and the elderly. 

Downing Street has said eligibility requirements have been set out "very clearly" and have not changed, but there is "an element of discretion" for those working on the ground in Sudan. The Foreign Office also said other routes were available, "such as crossing the border into Egypt".

But Dr Babiker claims that discretion was not used in his case. He says he would have gladly waited in line, but says he was told to leave the airbase by soldiers. 

"I'd be more than happy to wait for other people to be evacuated before me, but to not have any chance to be evacuated in this very risky situation is.... I'm really feeling disappointed."

 

IMAGE SOURCE, MOD Image caption, 

UK nationals have to make their own way to the Wadi Seidna airstrip unescorted

The Foreign Office said eight flights had airlifted 897 people from the east African country to Cyprus as of Thursday. 

However, this is a fraction of the thousands of British nationals thought to be in Sudan and there have been growing reports of situations like Dr Babiker's.

Dr Baasher added it would hit future recruitment to an already struggling health service.

"I think this will have an impact on international medical graduates wanting to join the NHS. They make up about 40% of the workforce and it will make other nationalities think twice about whether they want to work for the NHS."

It comes as a further 72-hour ceasefire has been agreed between the rival Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces, giving hope that further evacuation flights will be possible.

British military chiefs say they have the capacity to fly at least 500 people per day out of the Wadi Seidna airfield, north of Khartoum.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who had previously warned the mission could become "impossible" tweeted on Thursday night: "I urge all British nationals wishing to leave to proceed to the airport as quickly as possible to ensure their safety."

Mr Cleverly also called for the "full implementation" of the ceasefire by the generals in conflict in Africa's third largest country.

[Harry's Lad]

14 hours ago, Bruce Spanner said:

Landed in London this morning.

 

Still working on getting friends and colleagues over the boarder.

Great news.

Glad you and your family are safe.

[Mudface]

13 hours ago, Anubis said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65420882
 

 

 

I fucking hate this country.

[SasaS]

Doctors now welcome.

 

Policy. Outrage. U-turn.

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

Good day for a coup.

[TheHowieLama]

On 27/07/2023 at 09:10, TheHowieLama said:

Good day for a coup.

Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani has declared himself the new leader of Niger after a dramatic coup.

Also known as Omar Tchiani, he staged a takeover which started on Wednesday when the presidential guards unit he led seized the country's leader.

Deposed President Mohamed Bazoum was Niger's first elected leader to succeed another since independence in 1960.

[ZonkoVille77]

The Africans love an aul coup. 

[Bruce Spanner]

4 minutes ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

The Russians/Chinese/Saudis/US love an aul coup. 

 

Africans are an after thought...

[ZonkoVille77]

Just now, Bruce Spanner said:

 

Africans are an after thought...

 

Touché 

 

Corrupt cunts everywhere. 

[Chip Butty]

Nigel Farage, should put himself up for election out there as an independent. 

[cloggypop]

2 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani has declared himself the new leader of Niger after a dramatic coup.

Also known as Omar Tchiani, he staged a takeover which started on Wednesday when the presidential guards unit he led seized the country's leader.

Deposed President Mohamed Bazoum was Niger's first elected leader to succeed another since independence in 1960.

 

 

 

[Bob]

8 hours ago, Bruce Spanner said:

 

Africans are an after thought...

France owns all the uranium mines in Niger. Wonder where they are on this.

[Bruce Spanner]

5 minutes ago, Bob Spunkmouse said:

France owns all the uranium mines in Niger. Wonder where they are on this.

The back foot as they are in Mali as it’s all well and good having a French flag flying in places, but you’ve got to show the love and they’ve not been Serge Gainsborough like for a while relying on past glories…

 

Russia has done some sterling work with Wagner in leaning into the old colonial mistrust and disillusion and started a ‘what have you done for me lately’ thought process.

 

They go in, sweet talk and crack skulls before taking over key facilities. It’s like clockwork.

[Gnasher]

Not having a good day this fella. Don't think he'll be having a good night's sleep either.

 

 

 

 

[Paulie Dangerously]

It was just RESTING in his account 

[tokyojoe]

1 hour ago, Gnasher said:

Not having a good day this fella. Don't think he'll be having a good night's sleep either.

 

 

 

 

Not his day is it?

[Pidge]

This earthquake is awful, whole communities practically lost. 

 

Morocco earthquake: 'We need help from whoever will give it' - BBC News

[Bjornebye]

2 hours ago, Pidge said:

This earthquake is awful, whole communities practically lost. 

 

Morocco earthquake: 'We need help from whoever will give it' - BBC News

Got a half friend I know posting stuff on her Instagram about hardly anyone asking how she is after she’d posted a few videos of the aftermath. She’d been on holiday in Marrakesh and was more arsed about who answers her “I’m ok” call than the thousands dead and many bore with out homes and businesses. Way of the world I guess.

[Pidge]

Of course as soon as I belatedly posted about the earthquake another story broke. The flood in derna as well and it's not clear what relief is coming. 5000 dead, staggering. 

 

Seen a story blaming infrastructural neglect going back to Gaddafi's reign. Great to have a visionary dictator at the helm...

 

Is there any chance the world can be run by adults at some point? 

[Strontium]

Sorry about the Express link, for some reason it wasn't on the BBC website...

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1849658/nigeria-christmas-mass-murder-villages-christians-muslim-tribe

 

Christmas murder spree leaves at least 140 Christians killed in horror massacre

This marks the bloodiest attack in the area since 2018, when more than 200 people were massacred.

Horror violence erupted in Nigeria over the Christmas weekend, when dozens of people in 17 remote villages were attacked by gunmen.
 

The murder spree happened in the north-central Nigerian Plateau state and left at least 140 people killed, according to data compiled by the local office of NGO Amnesty International, through knowledge of its workers on the ground and local officials.

However, as many people are still unaccounted for, it is feared the death toll could further rise.

The villagers were targeted between Saturday and Sunday, with the murderers burning down most houses in what the area's governor called "senseless and unprovoked" attacks.
 

The Plateau Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, in a televised message on the local Channels Television: "As I am talking to you, in Mangu local governorate alone, we buried 15 people. As of this morning, in Bokkos, we are counting not less than 100 corpses.

"I am yet to take stock of (the deaths in) Barkin Ladi. It has been a very terrifying Christmas for us here in Plateau."
 

Some of the survivors in the the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi areas, where mainly Christians live, claimed they had to wait for several hours before security agencies responded to their pleas.

Sunday Dawum, a youth leader in Bokkos who lost his brother during an attack in his village called Mbom Mbaru, said, as reported by AP: "I called security but they never came. The ambush started six in the evening but security reached our place by seven in the morning."

As mass burials have already begun, no group has yet taken responsibility for the horrifying attacks. However, reports are placing the blame on the Fulani tribe, which has been accused of carrying out similar mass killings across northwest and central Nigeria in the past.

The Fula people are primarily of Muslim religion, and can be found mostly in Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Niger.