Junaidah Selamat, 49, and her children Mohamad Ashraf, 18, and Juliana Ashraf, 23, arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today at 4.15am, Bernama reported.
However, her Sudanese husband, Ashraf Gasim Elsimd, 54, remains stranded in Port Sudan because he does not have a Saudi Arabian residency permit.
“But he is safe because he has left Khartoum, where things remain tense. I hope his journey (to Malaysia) goes well so that our family can reunite,” she told reporters at KLIA.
Junaidah thanked all Malaysian embassy officials in Sudan, the Malaysian consulate-general in Jeddah, the Saudi Arabian government, the Pakistani embassy in Sudan, and all parties who assisted her and her children to leave Khartoum safely.
It was previously reported that Junaidah and her children were evacuated from Sudan on board a Saudi Arabian naval vessel that docked in Jeddah on Friday.
Violence broke out in the capital and across Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The clashes have killed more than 460 people, wounded thousands, and threatened a descent into wider turmoil in the northeast African country.
Sharing her experience in Sudan, Junaidah said her husband had taken their children out of school just before the war broke out.
“At the time, I thought it was nothing out of the ordinary because demonstrations are common in Sudan. But on the second day (April 16), when I woke up for Fajr prayers, I heard gunfire and shots coming from armoured vehicles, causing our house to shake and bullets to enter,” she was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Junaidah said the situation worsened later on, with power being cut off and essential supplies no longer being sold. She added that the people then began breaking into houses and shops out of desperation.
After six days, Junaidah said she received information from her sister in Malaysia that Wisma Putra was evacuating Malaysians out of Sudan, but it was too late because she had not registered with the Malaysian embassy in Khartoum.
“So, my eldest son, Ahmad Ashraf who is in Malaysia, informed Wisma Putra (about the situation) and was given a phone number to contact in Sudan,” she said.
Junaidah added that Wisma Putra later told her to travel to Port Sudan.
She described the journey as nerve-racking due to military roadblocks every 10 minutes, but that they were able to pass through as they had the necessary documents.