– You don’t need a white coat to be able to say that these children are now living with a very high potential for harm, says Sjak Haaheim. He is the legal representative for the three children under the age of ten. The children are from Buskerud, but have been outside Norway since last summer. Where in Sudan they are now is unknown. Counsel for the three children, Sjak Haaheim, says the children are in an area where there is very little information about how they are doing. Photo: Benedikte Fjelly / news This month, fighting broke out between the government army and the formerly pro-government paramilitary group RSF in Sudan. Haaheim says it will be difficult to get them back to Norway, as Sudan has no extradition agreements. – They find themselves on the run in a foreign country where there is a different language and a culture they are not as comfortable with. It is clear that this is a huge burden for these children, he says. Special team on their way to pick up Norwegians Around eighty Norwegian citizens are registered in Sudan. These are primarily Norwegian-Sudanese who live in and around the capital Khartoum. The government is working on alternatives to get them home. Three diplomats who served in Sudan have already been evacuated. news has sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hear what they know about the children and what they are doing to get them home. So far, we have not received an answer. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a separate team to North Africa to work on extracting Norwegian citizens from Sudan. The team consists of experienced diplomats who will work to evacuate Norwegian citizens from Sudan. They are also in place to ensure coordination and cooperation with other countries. They have good experience from similar situations, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among other things, with the evacuation work in Kabul, Afghanistan two years ago. Court case this week – It is serious when three Norwegian children are abroad and are thus kept out of the care of their mother, says the prosecutor in the case, Monica Hanø. Prosecutor Monica Hanø says that the police have no contact with the children. Photo: Morten W. Røkeberg / news According to the indictment, he allegedly sent the children on to Sudan without the children’s mother’s consent during a holiday in Egypt. In addition, he is said to have prevented the mother, her family and the Norwegian authorities from coming into contact with the children. The man is also charged with abuse in the form of violence, death threats and rape of his wife. He is also accused of threatening to abduct their children. His defender, Monica Behn Jacobsen, says the man does not plead guilty. The case will appear in Buskerud district court on Tuesday this week, and four days have been set aside for the case. Facts about the fighting in Sudan * On 15 April, fighting broke out in Sudan’s capital Khartoum between the government army and the former pro-government paramilitary group RSF. * On the same day, fighting breaks out in Darfur in the west of the country. * The conflict is between the country’s two top military leaders, both part of the military junta that has led the country since the coup in 2021: Army chief and junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who was Burhan’s second-in-command. * Before the fighting broke out, negotiations were underway to incorporate the RSF into the government army. * The RFS was formed in 2013 and has fought on behalf of Sudan in the Darfur region. * Tens of thousands of civilians are caught in the crossfire in Khartoum. On Thursday, close to 330 people were confirmed killed and at least 3,200 injured, according to the WHO. * Up to 20,000 people have fled from Darfur to Chad. Sources: WHO, AFP
ttn-69
Three children under the age of ten among the eighty Norwegians remaining in Sudan – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
