A widowed British-Sudanese father said he told his three children “it was like a hide-and-seek game” when his home was caught in the middle of a gunfight in Sudan.
Munzir Salman, 37, who has dual citizenship, spoke while he and his children waited to fly to the UK through Larnaca, Cyprus.
Mr Salman said he was at home in Khartoum with his children when Sudanese soldiers were ambushed by Rapid Support Forces troops outside his block of flats.
“What happened was some army soldiers were coming through and they were ambushed by the RSF,” he said.
“They then ran behind my house and they were shooting at each other. I was in the middle.
“It was horrendous and, unfortunately, it’s not the first time I’ve had gunshots around me. I’m a single father of three kids so I had to stay calm for them.
“I had to tell them it was like a game and told them it was like a hide-and-seek game.
“It was an experience they had never been through before. It was very scary but I tried to make it a game for them.
“I explained the danger before trying to make it like Tom and Jerry, where the people outside were Tom and we were Jerry.”
Mr Salman lived in Sudan until he turned 10, thereafter moving to Toxteth in Liverpool, where he lived for 16 years.
He then moved to Dubai before returning to Sudan in 2013 where he had his three children, Siddig, 11, Shaden, eight, and Yasmin, six, with his wife, who died in the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Meanwhile, a British businessman has described hiding in basements for three days with no food or water to avoid the fighting in Khartoum.
Ibrahim Ibrahim, who owns a security company in Birmingham, travelled to Sudan in February to visit family for the first time in nearly a decade — leaving his wife and four children at home.
Mr Ibrahim, 37, was on his way to buy a return plane ticket from a travel agency in the centre of the Sudanese capital when fighting broke out between military and militia forces on the morning of April 15.
“Suddenly, everybody was running," he said from an airbase near Khartoum.
“I saw a lot of people get shot and dying in front of my eyes, people getting injured. It was really terrible.”
Mr Ibrahim hid in the basements of abandoned buildings for three days, covering himself with sheets of cardboard or plywood. To avoid detection, he moved only at night.
“I was hiding for three days with no food, no water,” he said.
“You go to the wrong road, you’re going to get shot. One way you’ve got the army, the other you’ve got militia.
“I tried to move in the middle of night slowly, slowly until I got out [of central Khartoum].
“I worried a lot about not seeing my children and my wife again.
“My family was worrying and tried to call me but my battery’s dead. Everybody I know was trying to call me to help me to escape.”
After three days, he knocked on the door of a family who took him in, gave him food and water and allowed him to charge his phone.
Having contacted the British Foreign Office, Mr Ibrahim travelled to an airstrip on the outskirts of Khartoum on Wednesday morning, hoping to be flown out.
First evacuees arrive at Stansted Airport
The first flight carrying British citizens from Sudan landed at Stansted Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Women and children including babies in prams were among those who arrived after escaping the conflict-torn nation. Staff were on hand to assist elderly people in wheelchairs.
Anxious friends and family waited at the airport to be reunited with relatives and loved ones.
Many of the arrivals clutched Red Cross bags containing supplies.
Britain runs evacuation flights for UK citizens fleeing Sudan fighting - video
British citizens in Sudan have described being told to to make a chaotic and dangerous journey to the airstrip without a military escort.
“We are not seeing those who are making that travel having significant issues," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said.
But Sudanese-British citizen Tarig Babikir, 42, who used to live in Coventry, told of the challenge of making it to Wadi Saeedna amid the continuing violence.
“It’s complete anarchy right now, complete chaos. Anyone can rob you, anyone can shoot you,” Mr Babikir said.
Sudan crisis latest — in pictures
A UK-born student trying to flee Sudan said she did not have enough petrol to make the dangerous one-hour drive from the outskirts of Khartoum to the airstrip.
"I’m trying to get there but the problem is the vehicles that we have have no gas, and the petrol stations are empty," said Samar Eltayeb, 20, from Birmingham.
“There’ll be constant flights within the next few days but if I can’t find gas to get there, then I’m stuck.”
A man who arrived in the UK on Wednesday described the experience as a “nightmare”.
The man, who did not give his name, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic to be back. It’s been a nightmare. We’ve never seen anything like it before.
“We saw it on the television before but we never thought it was going to happen to a peaceful country like Sudan.”
He described the capital Khartoum as a “ghost city” and said everyone was fleeing.
“We are very grateful to the British servicemen and women who risked their lives to come to Sudan and help us out,” he said.
“There are more people stranded there and I think there should be more awareness to those stranded. We were very lucky but not everyone was as lucky we are.
“I was in the middle of the conflict. There was bombing and shelling, the house next to us was shelled. It was like a Bond movie, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Evacuation flights continue to rescue British nationals from Sudan
The British evacuation mission from Sudan has lifted 536 people to safety on six flights as the military races against time to rescue citizens while a fragile ceasefire holds.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said “in a fast-moving situation” these were the figures at 9pm on Wednesday “with further flights to come”.
Another two RAF flights were expected to take off from the Wadi Saeedna air strip near the capital Khartoum.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said the UK “cannot guarantee” how many more flights will depart when the 72-hour ceasefire in Sudan expires on Thursday night.
Downing Street said the flights have been “full or close to full”, with no “significant issues” faced by the evacuees.
More than 2,000 British citizens have registered in Sudan under evacuation plans, but thousands more could be in the country.
Mr Sunak's official spokesman said the operation in Khartoum was “running smoothly” and there was currently “no issue with capacity”.
The official said most of the people on the planes were British but that some were also citizens of allied countries.
He had not been informed of “large-scale problems” of non-British passport holders turning up and being told they are not eligible.
Downing Street hopes to carry on with flights throughout the week and does not believe there will be a need to “leave the airport imminently”.
The ceasefire has largely held since it began in the early hours of Monday.
Brig Dan Reeve, chief of joint force operations, said at least 500 people could be flown out from the airstrip every day and that the evacuation window was “not conditional on that ceasefire holding”.
“I can see no reason at the moment why we can’t continue to do that for as long as the Prime Minister wants us to,” he told journalists.
Mr Sunak was asked by the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn whether he would deport child refugees who arrive in the UK without authorisation, under plans to “stop the boats”.
The Prime Minister told the Commons of the country’s “proud record” of supporting asylum seekers, but did not commit to a new safe and legal route for those fleeing Sudan.
HMS Lancaster is progressing towards Port Sudan, the Red Sea dock about 800km from Khartoum that could possibly be used in a seaborne operation — although with fuel shortages and crowded motorways, the journey could prove difficult for many.
British forces are expected to take over command of the operation in Wadi Saeedna from German troops on Wednesday.
About 160 British service personnel have been sent to the airfield, but the security of the site is being maintained by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The military is ready to use force if the site comes under attack, although the troops are primarily there to help with logistics and providing air traffic control.
Families with children or elderly relatives, or people with medical conditions, are being given priority for the flights.
Only British passport holders and immediate family members with existing UK entry clearance are being told they are eligible.
Citizens have been warned that all travel within Sudan is “conducted at your own risk”.
UK accused of delaying Germany’s evacuation
The UK has reportedly been accused of delaying Germany’s efforts to evacuate its citizens from Sudan at the weekend.
The BBC reported it was told by senior German political sources that Britain’s mission to extract its embassy staff led to a temporary blockade of the airfield near Khartoum, from which later evacuation flights have taken off.
The sources claimed that British forces landed without the permission of the Sudanese army, angering them so that they barred access to the site.
German rescuers “lost at least half a day” as negotiations to use the airstrip took place, according to the broadcaster.
The British were forced to pay the Sudanese army before leaving, one source told the BBC.
Germany and other European nations were hoping to use the Wadi Saeedna airfield to fly their citizens to safety.
In an apparent swipe at the UK’s initial handling of the crisis, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would not leave civilians “to their own devices” as it completed its evacuation.
Announcing the completion of Germany’s evacuation efforts on Tuesday, Ms Baerbock said that “unlike in other countries”, it had included all German nationals and their partners, and not just diplomatic personnel.
The UK started its mission to evacuate when a ceasefire was brokered between the warring factions.
The UK Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.
A spokesman for the department told the BBC: “It is not accurate to suggest that Britain’s efforts to evacuate embassy staff from Sudan last weekend slowed down Germany’s plans.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
More on animal trafficking
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Twin%20electric%20motors%20and%20105kWh%20battery%20pack%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E619hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C015Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUp%20to%20561km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQ3%20or%20Q4%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh635%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Honeymoonish
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SHAITTAN
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVikas%20Bahl%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAjay%20Devgn%2C%20R.%20Madhavan%2C%20Jyothika%2C%20Janaki%20Bodiwala%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
INDIA SQUADS
India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar
India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul
The%20specs
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
New schools in Dubai
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Company%20Profile
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Company%20profile
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'Cheb%20Khaled'
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
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Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
