Sudanese families fleeing to Egypt separated by new visa rules

El Safi Mahdi, Sudanese music professor plays guitar as he waits to travel to his Sudanese musician wife Sohair Saddig Ali, who fled the fighting following the crisis, at the theatre of Novelists and Artists Union in the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ibrahim Mohammed Ishak

PORT SUDAN (Reuters) - Elsafi Mahdi was separated from his wife and three younger children on June 1 near Sudan's border with Egypt. He does not know when he'll see them again.

Like many families fleeing the war in the capital Khartoum, Mahdi, a prominent music teacher and conductor, left home without a visa required for entry to Egypt.