Bournemouth siblings hopeful mum can return from Sudan

Rita El-Gazali flew out to the African country to care for her sick Sudanese father in the capital city of Khartoum. 

She was meant to return to the UK on April 18, but fighting erupted between the army and paramilitaries.

Her children, Sarra and Salah Elkhalifa have been working with Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood to try and bring their mother, a British national, home.

Rita, from Iford, has since been able to get to Port Sudan, while both sides in the conflict have agreed upon a ceasefire.

Salah, 22, said it was a “small relief” that his mum could be evacuated soon.

“With everything that’s gone on for the family, and with close friends involved it has been quite a stressful time,” he said.

“Hopefully she does make her safe return in the next coming days, and we can put this behind us and move forward.”

Salah praised the work of the MP in helping to bring his mother back.

“It’s been nice to have someone that works directly in the government to have as a support network,” he said.

“Someone to speak to, someone to actually listen to our problems. He’s a credit to the Bournemouth community.”

Meanwhile, Sarra has started a petition calling on the government to do more to help the situation in Sudan.

The 21-year-old said: “We would like to see the government take a more active role in trying to help as many citizens as they can, whether it be British nationals or other Sudanese locals.

“I think the country as a whole has a responsibility to go and assist as many people as they can.”

Rita runs a charity in Bournemouth, Unity in Vision, and despite the situation, she has still focused on the work it is doing.

“She’s sent me messages being like, tell this person about this event and then try to organise this,” Sarra said.

“She's fighting for her life, she could die at any minute, and she's still helping her little town. It’s remarkable.

“Since she moved to this country, she came in 1998 to Bournemouth and Poole, she's done work with mosques, she's helped community organisations, she's helped refugees, she's helped so many people in her life and in the UK.”

Mr Ellwood said it was “good news” that Rita had arrived at the port, but they needed to continue to work hard until she has left the country.

“I’ve been in contact with the family on a daily basis. I have informed the Foreign Office she is now at that location, and I think she can fly out with British assets there.”

Salah, Sarra and Mr Ellwood are all hopeful that their grandfather would be able to come to the UK along with Rita.

“He’s not a British passport holder, but we are working with the Foreign Office to see what can be done to support him,” Mr Ellwood said.

Salah added: “I’m hoping Tobias can do something to help bring him to the country alongside my mother.”