The Sudanese civil war erupted again last month, this time originating inside Khartoum, the country’s capital.
The war is thought to have displaced at least 75,000 people.
I count over 65 relatives, aunts, uncles, a great uncle, and my 80-year-old father among them as a British-Sudanese who was spending Ramadan there.
According to their texts, my family’s escapes from Sudan have been difficult, risky, and expensive. My father shared food and water with his cousin and extended family, slept outside, went without a bathroom for six days, and had to ration it.
Having spoken to them, their despair at having to leave is palpable. They look so, so tired. I wish I could reach out and carry them all to a safe bed.
And more than that, I wish the UK government would step up, like they did in Ukraine, and support those caught up in this war.
Despite my family’s plight, they have struggled to get the help they need from British authorities.
Evacuation flights to the UK were announced too late for my father to get to the airfield safely.
They even initially refused boarding to those who didn’t have British passports, despite some being NHS doctors with resident and work permits and others the parents of British citizens.
For me, the subsequent u-turn proves the government could have allowed them to board immediately, but only acted after bad headlines.
I was born and raised in England and now work as a doctor all over the world. I shouldn’t have to battle for my family fleeing war to be allowed a legal – and safe – route to safety in the UK.
The government’s approach seems in marked contrast to last year, when, just a week after Russia’s invasion, the government announced the new Ukraine Family Visa scheme, offering a legal route to enter the UK for family members of British nationals or people with settled status in the country.
Simply having a relative with indefinite leave to remain, a resident permit or even being a UK-based refugee, would qualify any Ukrainian to apply for a no-fee online visa, supported by a free-of-charge telephone helpline.
Having worked in Ukraine from March to July 2022. I agree that those fleeing that war needed all the help they could in reaching safety.
After 17 days of war in Sudan, those of us hoping for a similar scheme have been left disappointed.
Instead, Home Secretary Suella Braverman went on a media round to confirm not only that no legal means would be made available but that any Sudanese arriving by small boat would be detained and could be removed to Rwanda.
She said that ‘the situation is very different to Ukraine’.
Take it from someone who has worked in conflict zones, war is war no matter where in the world it takes place.
Choosing to leave your home is never the easy option. I see the strain of that decision haunting my cousins’ faces this week, much as I have seen it in my patients’ faces in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Tigray and indeed Ukraine when I worked in those wars.
So given my experience, I feel qualified to ask Suella Braverman exactly what, in her government’s eyes, is the difference between a Sudanese person fleeing war and a Ukrainian person fleeing war?
Watching Braverman roll out tired cliches about helping those caught up in conflict was infuriating.
Arguably, the UK has more of a connection to Sudan, as the former colonial power in Sudan, which achieved independence only when my dad was 14 years old in 1956.
That is not ancient history, rather living memory. Dad studied, married my mother and raised his family in Cambridge. His is just one of thousands of stories of Sudanese with strong links to the UK.
For me, denying Sudanese people the same support we extended to Ukrainians, is just another element of the grim reality of racism in the UK.
That reality is evident in the Windrush scandal, in the events at Yorkshire Cricket Club, in NHS maternal health outcomes and in reports like Lady Casey’s into the Met Police.
Whatever the reason behind this breathtaking double standard, the outcome for Sudanese people is in no doubt.
As I write, my cousins are languishing at border crossings, with no prospect of finding safety at my side.
I believe more Sudanese will drown at sea trying to flee war.
It doesn’t have to be this way – it is on all of us in the UK, no matter our background, to challenge the reality of racism wherever we meet it.
For the sake of my family and so many others, I need the UK to do more to help Sudanese people, just as we helped Ukrainians.
No matter what Suella Braverman says, these are comparable situations.
Bullets don’t differentiate between nations, and nor should we.
Having spoken to them, their despair at having to leave is palpable. They look so, so tired. I wish I could reach out and carry them all to a safe bed.
And more than that, I wish the UK government would step up, like they did in Ukraine, and support those caught up in this war.
Despite my family’s plight, they have struggled to get the help they need from British authorities.
Evacuation flights to the UK were announced too late for my father to get to the airfield safely.
They even initially refused boarding to those who didn’t have British passports, despite some being NHS doctors with resident and work permits and others the parents of British citizens.
For me, the subsequent u-turn proves the government could have allowed them to board immediately, but only acted after bad headlines.
I was born and raised in England and now work as a doctor all over the world. I shouldn’t have to battle for my family fleeing war to be allowed a legal – and safe – route to safety in the UK.
The government’s approach seems in marked contrast to last year, when, just a week after Russia’s invasion, the government announced the new Ukraine Family Visa scheme, offering a legal route to enter the UK for family members of British nationals or people with settled status in the country.
Simply having a relative with indefinite leave to remain, a resident permit or even being a UK-based refugee, would qualify any Ukrainian to apply for a no-fee online visa, supported by a free-of-charge telephone helpline.
Having worked in Ukraine from March to July 2022. I agree that those fleeing that war needed all the help they could in reaching safety.
After 17 days of war in Sudan, those of us hoping for a similar scheme have been left disappointed.
Instead, Home Secretary Suella Braverman went on a media round to confirm not only that no legal means would be made available but that any Sudanese arriving by small boat would be detained and could be removed to Rwanda.
She said that ‘the situation is very different to Ukraine’.
Take it from someone who has worked in conflict zones, war is war no matter where in the world it takes place.
Choosing to leave your home is never the easy option. I see the strain of that decision haunting my cousins’ faces this week, much as I have seen it in my patients’ faces in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Tigray and indeed Ukraine when I worked in those wars.
So given my experience, I feel qualified to ask Suella Braverman exactly what, in her government’s eyes, is the difference between a Sudanese person fleeing war and a Ukrainian person fleeing war?
Watching Braverman roll out tired cliches about helping those caught up in conflict was infuriating.
Arguably, the UK has more of a connection to Sudan, as the former colonial power in Sudan, which achieved independence only when my dad was 14 years old in 1956.
That is not ancient history, rather living memory. Dad studied, married my mother and raised his family in Cambridge. His is just one of thousands of stories of Sudanese with strong links to the UK.
For me, denying Sudanese people the same support we extended to Ukrainians, is just another element of the grim reality of racism in the UK.
That reality is evident in the Windrush scandal, in the events at Yorkshire Cricket Club, in NHS maternal health outcomes and in reports like Lady Casey’s into the Met Police.
Whatever the reason behind this breathtaking double standard, the outcome for Sudanese people is in no doubt.
As I write, my cousins are languishing at border crossings, with no prospect of finding safety at my side.
I believe more Sudanese will drown at sea trying to flee war.
It doesn’t have to be this way – it is on all of us in the UK, no matter our background, to challenge the reality of racism wherever we meet it.
For the sake of my family and so many others, I need the UK to do more to help Sudanese people, just as we helped Ukrainians.
No matter what Suella Braverman says, these are comparable situations.
Bullets don’t differentiate between nations, and nor should we.