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Dispatches

1) Declan Walsh, “Trapped by War, Saved by 2 Students With a Taxi As feuding generals turned the Sudanese capital into a war zone, two university students navigated a battered Toyota through the chaos to rescue dozens of desperate people.,” The New York Times, May 5, 2023 (updated 11:42;am ET);

Analysis

Amid all the terrible news of people getting killed and injured, there are often inspiring examples of human beings acting with a deep sense of humanity. Declan Walsh describes on such example, from Sudan, where two college students with a part-time taxi business drove through numerous RSF checkpoints in Khartoum to rescue stranded international residents taking them to safety.

The students, Hassan Tibwa, 25, and Sami al-Gada, 23, rescued some 60 people, including many U.N. staff from different countries, when the U.N. itself was unable to mount rescue operations.

Walsh quotes one U.N. official as saying, “The only word for them is heroes.”

Walsh’s account describes the chaotic and terrifying conditions under which the residents of Khartoum are living, and also the heroism and deep sense of humanity of two students in their final year of studies in mechanical engineering.

The Trenchant Observer

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