Father-of-four American doctor stabbed to death in Sudan: Second US casualty of fighting identified
A US doctor has been identified as the second US citizen to die in fierce fighting that has rocked the African nation of Sudan.
The death of Bushra Ibnauf Sulieman, a Sudanese American father of four, was announced by the Sudanese American Medical Association.
He was in the capital Khartoum with his wife and two young children while caring for his parents and providing medical assistance during armed clashes that left at least 500 people dead.
He died of stab wounds after being attacked while escorting his father to a medical appointment during a tentative ceasefire.
“He was someone who believed in Sudan,” his friend and colleague Dr. Yasir Elamin to the BBC World Service.
“He spent a significant amount of his time training the next generation of Sudanese doctors. He was very charismatic… everyone loved him.”
The death of Bushra Ibnauf Sulieman, a Sudanese American father of four, was announced by the Sudanese American Medical Association. He is the second American to die in Sudan
On Sunday, US special forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the US embassy in Sudan. Images of fleeing foreigners are used by Islamists to say they are winning the war against the West, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan when Americans fled in 2021
He divided his time between Sudan and Iowa City, where he practiced at the Mercy Iowa City gastroenterology clinic.
Heavy explosions and gunfire once again ravaged Khartoum and its sister city of Omdurman on Friday as a fragile truce between warring factions threatened to collapse.
Foreign governments used a ceasefire earlier this week to evacuate their embassies and rescue some foreigners.
Washington has come under fire for flying about 70 embassy personnel on a mission led by elite SEAL commandos, while warning thousands of US private citizens in Sudan that there would be no similar evacuation for them.
That could leave 16,000 Americans – mostly with dual citizenship – stranded.
The White House insists it is doing what it can.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States deployed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to support land and air evacuation routes, which Americans used.
The capital Khartoum has been ravaged by clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the military as rival generals battle for power in Africa’s third-largest country
The United Nations says more than 500 people have been killed in heavy fighting
The Marine Security Guard detachment assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, holds the U.S. flag during a flag folding ceremony at the U.S. Embassy, April 22, 2023
Pictured: British nationals about to board an RAF aircraft in Sudan, for evacuation to Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus
“This is a dynamic environment and each option carries a degree of risk,” she said Thursday.
“However, because the situation is unlikely to improve, we encourage Americans who wish to leave to take advantage of the opportunities available to them over the next 24 to 48 hours.”
In the past 14 days of shelling each other, the army led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have failed to deliver a knockout blow to each other in their battle for control of Africa’s third largest country.
At the same time, the world powers have struggled to get them to silence their arms, even for nominal ceasefires.
A bloc of East African countries has submitted an initiative for the two sides to hold talks, and a range of mediators are promoting the plan, including the African Union, the US, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the United Nations. .
The Sudanese army has launched airstrikes against RSF troops across Khartoum and neighboring towns.
The fighting pits army chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who has allied himself with the country’s Islamists, against General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) who heads the Rapid Support Forces
Islamists are using a sophisticated social media operation to gain influence in Sudan. That includes using AI to fake a plot by US Ambassador John Godfrey to intervene in the country
But as the fighting ebbed into a ceasefire, it flared up elsewhere in the country this week, particularly in Darfur, the arid western region where tribes and rebels have been battling each other for two decades.
At least 512 people have been killed and as many as 4,200 injured in the past two weeks, according to the UN, though the true number is likely much higher.
One of the biggest fears now is that the clashes could turn into a regional war as neighboring countries such as Chad, Libya and Egypt support one general or the other.
At the same time, the country’s Islamists, once the power behind the throne, see a chance for a comeback and have thrown their lot into the Sudanese armed forces against the RSF.
Although they currently have little influence, they have extensive and sophisticated online messaging business.
Amil Khan, founder of Valent Projects, which examines the impact of social media, said Islamists had a powerful network of accounts spreading images of Western-led evacuations and civilian leaders fleeing Khartoum.
“They then use that opportunistically to say this is the collapse of the West, and by linking it to Kabul they can try to portray themselves as victors in the same way they view the Taliban,” he said.
“It echoes messages around the word that the Taliban have won over the US. The US left in disarray.
“The Islamists are trying to say that we are the people who conquered them.”
In their heyday, the Islamists in Sudan turned the country into a haven for terrorists. Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum from 1991 to 1996.