By Wanja Waweru

The Kenyan diplomatic office was closed on Sunday, leaving Kenyan residents left in the civil war-torn Sudan with an unknown future.

The return of warfare in Sudan, which has been specifically targeting diplomatic posts, was blamed for the closure, which was announced by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei.

“The safety of our diplomatic officials is paramount, and we have been receiving disturbing reports of armed groups targeting diplomatic personnel in Khartoum, Sudan. As a result, the Kenya Mission in Khartoum, which had previously remained open to facilitate the evacuation of Kenyans, is now closed,” stated Sing’Oei

Alfred Mutua, the cabinet secretary for foreign affairs, had already told the country in April that plans were in place to evacuate Kenyans if the situation in Sudan worsened. At the time, it was thought that there were around 3,000 Kenyans living in Sudan.

Over 900 Kenyans were flown out of Sudan by the government in coordination with national airlines.

But now that the diplomatic post has been shut down, it’s unclear what will happen to the remaining Kenyans who are still in Sudan. The number of Kenyans still living in the war-torn nation and the arrangements for their departure have not yet been disclosed by the government in a statement.

There are no indicators that the violence in Sudan will end. Only a few days earlier, rockets in Khartoum struck a market, killing 18 people and injuring hundreds more leaving more than 100 injured.

The continued fighting between military troops has prevented the US and Saudi Arabia from mediating peace talks and humanitarian assistance.

Thabo Bester’s mother, Maria Mabaso, recently admitted that she didn’t spend much time with her son while he was growing up. Thabo Bester is also referred to as the “Facebook rapist” and is the most sought criminal in South Africa.

Mabaso claimed in an interview with South Africa’s Eye Witness News that she had to leave her son in the care of his grandmother when he was just a year old since she was a single parent who worked nonstop.

Over time, this caused the bond between Mabaso and her mother to deteriorate.

“He was entrusted into the care of his grandmother at the age of one due to her being a single parent and having to constantly work,” Ms Mabaso told South Africa’s Eye Witness News.

She said this resulted in the relationship between her and her mother worsening over the years.

“At the end of the day, my mother shouted at me every day. She pushed me away. When she pushed me away, I said ‘No, I will sit by my place and I am not going there ever again,” she was quoted as saying.

Ms. Mabaso disclosed that the mother’s illness and subsequent death occurred when the son was in his teen years, at which point she made fruitless attempts to move and establish contact with her son.

Speaking to reporters about the arrest of the couple, who have been on the run since it was discovered that Mr. Bester had escaped from a privately run prison in Bloemfontein in March 2023, Mr. Cele said they had also been detained along with a Mozambican man named Mr. Zakaria Alberto.

“They were arrested with multiple passports in their possession. None of the passports were stamped,” he said in the press conference.

Mr Bester was found with documents that identified him as Mr Tommy William Kelly, an American citizen while Dr Magudumana had documentation that identified her as Martha Patience Mmerika Nitshini.

The passports, according to the South African government, which had received details from Tanzania, where the trio was nabbed, also showed that Mr Bester had more pseudonyms, further adding to the case’s complexity.