U.S. officials fleeing the war-torn country of Sudan have reportedly left thousands of Americans behind, with one mother revealing her son was told he was on his own.
Joyce Eiler has been “sick to [her] stomach” with worry over her son Mike, a teacher who was living in Sudan when violence broke out within the country April 15, CBS News reported. Eiler revealed that as Mike and his group approached fleeing embassy officials about finding a way out of the country they were allegedly told, “You’re on your own,” the outlet reported. (RELATED: Heartbreaking Account Of Biden’s Chaotic Afghan Evacuation)
“I don’t think I’ve had a decent meal in four days,” a worried and frustrated Eiler told CBS News.
The U.S. military was able to successfully evacuate approximately 70 U.S. government employees from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum April 22, according to another report by CBS News. “Within that course of a week, we moved from … just urging both sides to abide by a ceasefire, which of course we still do, to feeling like it wasn’t safe enough for our diplomats and or embassy to stay manned there and operating, and so we moved them out,” John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, stated according to the outlet.
Since the U.S. Embassy in Sudan has been temporarily closed, routine and emergency consular services to Americans living within the country are not available, much to the consternation of Eiler, who feels the U.S. government has an obligation to assist American citizens in Sudan.
“They’re the ones that want them over there, helping those people to do what they need to do, and to learn what they need to learn,” she stated regarding the U.S. officials. “And then when something happens, they just walk out on them.” (RELATED: Thousands Of Americans Stranded In Sudan Warzone After Embassy Is Evacuated)
“France and Spain stepped up and brought in four buses and 25 cars to remove these people who had been living in the basement of a hotel for like three or four days, with the shooting right out in front of them,” Eiler contended, adding that her son and his group were trying to get to the French embassy, but the fighting was too intense. (RELATED: ‘An Atrocity’: Kevin McCarthy Says Britain And France Can Rescue Citizens From Afghanistan, ‘Why Can’t America?’)
“We’re going to do everything we can to help guide people, get them the information they need to get out safely,” Kirby promised. “But it is not safe right now for another evacuation attempt. That would actually put Americans in more danger, not less,” he claimed.
Eiler is understandably “upset” by the whole thing, telling the outlet she discovered Mike had eventually made it to Djibouti but she “had not been able to reach him.”
“I know nothing,” she stated.