9 Egyptian Citizens Who Were Arrested For 19 Months Freed By Sudanese Paramilitary

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

Nine Egyptian citizens who were released after being held hostage for 19 months by Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrived in Egypt.

"Alhamdulillah. A new era has begun for us today. Our lives are starting again from today," said Ahmed Aziz Masry, who was surrounded by dozens of people who came to congratulate him on his return to Abo village.

Residents flooded village roads 110 km (70 miles) southwest of Cairo, where seven prisoners were released.

Sudan has been at war since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the army and the RSF over a dispute ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.

The war has caused a humanitarian disaster, with mass evacuations and widespread hunger.

A UN report published on Thursday found "an arbitrary pattern of detention, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees" widespread by RSF and Sudanese soldiers.

The released Egyptian prisoners worked in Khartoum for years by importing household items and small electrical equipment.

One of the prisoners, Emad Moawad, told Reuters he had a plane ticket to return to Egypt after the fighting began, but the airport closed.

"65 days later, RSF raided our house and detained us for more than 19 months," he said.

Masry said RSF mistakenly accused them of spying for the Egyptian intelligence service.

"Every few months, they will tell us they will release us but then turn a blind eye to us and send us to another prison," Masry said.

In the fifth prison, the guards called Masry to his office to answer the phone call. The sound at the end of there said the situation had been resolved.

"A few weeks ago, they took us to the last point controlled by the RSF and from there to the Sudanese Army, which took us to the Egyptian embassy and then to Cairo," he said.

The war has involved many foreign powers, with the RSF accusing Egypt of helping the army while the army accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF.