Ladu Isaac looked pensive as he sat alone at a corner table of his regular bar in Rock City, a suburb of the South Sudanese capital ofJuba. When the clock struck 8, he straightened himself up, his head supported by his hands, and glued his eyes to the TV screen as the anchor read out the evening news. When she began the international headlines, the 39-year-old engineer walked a metre closer to the screen. “In international news, fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary continues, with hundreds of thousands of civilians still trapped in the capital Khartoum,” the anchor spoke.
By Richard Sultan. Edited by Arshu John
Isaac turned away from the screen, walked to the bar and banged his fist against the counter. “What madness has come over you today?” the bartender asked him, concerned and confused by the regular’s irregular behaviour. Tears flowing down his cheeks, Isaac responded, “Just give me three bottles of Star Gin”—a locally brewed, high alcohol-content gin packaged in 250 ml bottles. The order surprised everyone, fellow bar regulars and the bartender—Isaac was not known to drink gin, let alone Star Gin, and his behaviour evoked grave concern. But Isaac ignored everyone’s questions and walked out of the bar.
In February this year, two months before the fighting began in Sudan, Isaac had sent his mother to Khartoum for medical treatment. Now in May, weeks into the fighting, his mother was trapped in the conflict-ridden nation’s capital, and Isaac was among scores of South Sudanese nationals anxious about their loved ones in Sudan, particular in Khartoum—worsened by occasional breakdowns in communication, endless battles, and a lack of necessities. According to the UNHCR, as of 31 January this year, there were over 800,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan, which included over 600,000 registered migrants—including students, individuals seeking medical treatment, and business professionals—and over 160,000 unregistered individuals.
In end April, a week after the onset of fighting, South Sudanese eagerly awaited a response from their government on the evacuation of their friends and families trapped in the war. Anxiety reached a boiling point when the West and other countries started evacuating their citizens from Khartoum. The government’s lack of action forced a group of youths in Juba to take matters into their own hands. A civil-society collective, now called Citizens Call for the Emergency Evacuation of the South Sudanese (CCEESS), spurred into action and started a crowdfunding campaign for the evacuation. They used social media, organised meetings and press conferences, and called upon the goodwill of every South Sudanese citizen.
“We thought of what we could do to help our compatriots,” Akoc Manhiem, the group’s chairperson, said. “Without consultation from government institutions, as life was at stake, we did what we felt could work. We first printed a banner, created a Facebook page and uploaded the banner as our cover photo. We also thought about the issue of trust, and that is where Mgurush, a local fintech, came in since it will allow us to receive money from within and from those in the diaspora.”
The campaign was more successful than they expected. Their initiative spread widely and quickly, leading to a surprisingly successful first press conference that even the country’s acting foreign affairs minister attended. “We raised 400,000 South Sudanese Pounds”—a little over $300 USD—“right after our first press conference, and received a pledge of $5000 USD from an individual in the diaspora,” Manheim recalled. “The success of our Facebook page boosted our morale, and I was able to open a crowdfunding account on gofundme.com and share it on other social media like Twitter and clubhouse.”
The initiative’s crowdfunding web page on gofundme records receiving $6,685 USD against their target of $100,000 USD. “This is a cause I believe in. Our people require our support,” posted Adhieu Majok on the crowdfunding page, after contributing $200 USD. However, the fundraising efforts of the initiative have spread far beyond the crowdfunding page, and has seen big investments from South Sudanese business owners and politicians alike. According to a post on their Facebook page on 17 June, CCEESS has raised nearly $550,000 USD, including over $125,000 USD from a fundraising event on 13 May, $100,000 USD from the Eritrean Business Community and over $30,000 from the country’s central bank. Moreover, the in-kind contributions are worth over $100,000.
Using the money, the initiative sought to pay truck drivers to travel nearly 500 kilometres from Khartoum to the South Sudanese town of Renk, carrying trapped citizens back to their home country. On 27 April, the initiative managed to pay the first truck driver to make the journey with the first group of South Sudanese evacuees. As of 13 June, according to Jok Monychok Kuol, the initiative’s spokesperson, they had evacuated 6,660 individuals from Sudan. “We are currently focusing on evacuating those trapped in Khartoum to the border,” said Emmanuel Ladu, the group’s head of logistics. “From the border onwards, the government and development partners like the IOM and UNHCR will take over. We will only help with food items and other necessities as we know you can’t leave a war zone with your belongings.”
The CCEESS have set up a coordinating office opposite the US Embassy in Juba, where citizens can contribute in cash or kind. “We have a coordinating team in Khartoum, in the Omdurman, Hai Joisef, Kala Kala and Mayo suburbs,” Ladu explained. “Thanks to them, they hired a Sudanese man who has lorries. However, due to the intense fighting, some neighbourhoods like Hai Joisef are still cut off from the assembly points.” He added that safety maps are drawn with the coordinating teams to aid in the evacuation.
Two months into the fighting, the initiative intends to continue their evacuations as long as South Sudanese remain in Sudan. The group is also considering evacuation through neighbouring countries by land for South Sudanese trapped in other parts of Sudan, though the planning is still early. “We are getting calls from various people across South Sudan daily, informing us of their trapped relatives in various parts of Sudan,” Ladu said. “We give them assurances, and they believe us.”
Ladu had urged people to contribute, stressing on the dire situation and appealing to the public’s generosity. And the public responded. Sabina John, a local businesswoman, contributed 50,000 SSP—approximately $50 USD—to the initiative. John said she learnt of the initiative through her daughter. “I had just finished my extended morning prayers because since the outbreak of the Sudan fight, I offer special prayers for peace and safety of my relatives in Sudan,” she recounted. “Then, my daughter called, asking if I had heard about the ongoing contributions to help evacuate trapped South Sudanese from Khartoum. She explained every detail, saying she read it online and urged me to contribute.”
John spoke of the South Sudanese community spirit in times of crisis. “In 2008, while in Western Equatoria State, I heard about the need to contribute anything to support our brothers in the disputed Abyei region after an attack by Khartoum—we gave foodstuffs, clothes and even cash which helped our displaced compatriots there.” She continued with more examples of such initiatives in the past, including during the 2015 Fuel Tank explosion accident near Maridi town, in Western Equatoria, which killed over 200 people, and the COVID-19 pandemic, during which everyone made “a lot of sacrifices to help overcome starvation.”
Mama Maria, a 70-year-old woman who contributed bedsheets that she had saved for her burial, similarly beamed with pride about the South Sudanese community efforts, and remembered South Sudan’s founding father, John Garang. “This is how during Dr John Garang’s time, we supported the rebellion by giving whatever we had for independence. For such a spirit to still exist nearly 18 years after Garang’s dead gives me the feeling that whatever will befall this country in the future, the current generation can handle it.”
However, not everyone remembers previous community efforts with the same trust, and despite this initiative’s success, they have also been subject to questions from those who remain doubtful of certain aspects of their process. For instance, Makuei Garang recalled his bitter experience of being displaced from his home in Bor during the floods in 2020. “Many people came up with the same initiatives, and money was collected and pocketed,” Garang said. “There was no evacuation, and we had to figure our way out.”
But the group rejected any allegations of impropriety, citing the transparency of the organisation and the fintech company, Mgurush. “We keep records of the cash and in-kind collections,” Manheim said. “The management of Mgurush only releases payment after verifying all the necessary signatories and purposes. Everything we do is voluntary, public, and for the good of our country.”
Another criticism levelled against the initiative is its relationship to the South Sudan government. For Deng Lual, a student of political science and economics at Juba University, this was the issue that turned him from a supporter to a critic. “Why do you start partnering with government institutions like the Office of the First Lady?” Lual asked “They are ashamed of failing to evacuate our people, and now at the last minute, they are dishing out cash to please us that they care.” He added that some of the citizens contributing to the initiative, who have different political affiliations than to the ruling party, may have to think twice before taking part in such an initiative again.
Others, too, have noted the lack of initiatives by the government to help its citizens trapped in the fighting. While acknowledging the positive support of the youth and development partners, a multi-denominational group called the Upper Nile Religious Initiative for Peace and Reconciliation, which works in the region that borders Sudan and is at the forefront of returnees and refugee crisis, urged the government to do more. The septuagenarian Maria, too, questioned the inactivity of the government. “In 2016, I asked my grandson the whereabouts of our Ugandan neighbours when there was a conflict in Juba, and he told me that their country sent trucks to evacuate them. Why can’t we now evacuate our own from Khartoum?”
Similarly, religious groups have also insisted on the need for further action from the government. “We call on the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs & Disaster Management to develop a strategy and mechanism in collaboration with other ministries, NGOs and institutions to repatriate many South Sudanese people still in Khartoum and other areas in Sudan,” said Rev. Fr. Paolino Tipo Deng of the Comboni Missionaries. “They are more than those already at the border.”
On 1 May, over two weeks after the fighting began and under criticism for inactivity in evacuation assistance, the South Sudan government released one billion SSP to the ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management. “There are more than 6,000 returnees entering daily through 12 border points,” said the information minister, Michael Makuei. “South Sudanese will be transferred to their areas of origin and supported from there as the government has no plans to set up another IDP camp.”
According to Ladu, the government and development partners have focused on evacuating those who reached the border town Renk instead of those trapped in the battle zone. From Renk, the government and other well-wishers have charted several flights and boats to help the returnees reach their region of origin. Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies are helping in the registration and provision of temporary transit shelters as well as food rations. According to the latest UN figures, over 101,000 individuals crossed the border into South Sudan since April 15.
Back in Juba’s Rock City suburb, a week after the engineer Isaac drew cause for concern with his order of Star Gin, he returned to the bar to explain himself. This time, he wore a broad smile, his eyes no longer hollow and his round face glowing. He shook everyone’s hand and, surprised by the small number of early worshippers—as the locals referred to the daily patrons of the bar—he asked, “Where is everybody?”
Isaac then called the bartender and waived around a $100 USD note. “For all the eight worshippers present, the bar girl inclusive, drink and eat whatever you want, and madam boss here will deduct it from this hundred dollars,” he announced. He was not finished. “This $100 is for between now and 5 pm. After that, we will start a new bill!” Those in the bar later confessed to thinking that he had won big in gambling or maybe even robbed a bank. But Isaac seized the moment of shocked silence that followed his announcements to explain the extravagant generosity.
“The last time I was here, exactly a week ago, I sat in that corner before the 8 pm news hour, and most of you recall what I did afterwards”, he started as they responded with a nod. He explained that he had lost contact with his mother, who was stuck in Khartoum, and driven by desperation had turned to Star Gin. “But as I speak now, I have communicated with my mum and kid brother! Thank God, they are safe and sound in Renk town, inside South Sudan.”
As the bar remained in stunned silence, only the bartender asked how she had managed to escape, and Isaac recounted what his mother had told him. “Juba youths hired a lorry to evacuate any willing South Sudanese from the war, with the location and the departure time. After leaving here, I am driving to their office to give this money to support their honourable initiative”, he said, showing them another $300 that he removed from his suit pocket.
Before he left, Isaac announced, “There is going to be an open bill here even in my absence, as I will be heading to Renk to bring mum home.”
Top image: South Sudanese citizens queue up to make contributions during a CCEESS fundraising event at their office in Juba . Credit: Citizens Call for the Emergency Evacuation of the South Sudanese (CCEESS)
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