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KHARTOUM, Sudan (Contributed by Sheryl Wragg)
"They call it an airport, but I'm not sure. On the way out of the airport on the road into town, our taxi was stopped by a group of armed men who demanded our passports and asked us to exit the car. They said they were government employees! Our passports had already been seized by airport officials, so the armed "welcome committee" just let us go. They closed the airport at night and put big chains around the doors. We arrived for a midnight flight out but they wouldn't let us (or any of the other travelers) in the airport until after 3 am. We did find a place to sit, but with all the armed soldiers and fishy looking characters around, no one wanted to sleep. There are amenities like restrooms (not clean), chairs (lots of them broken), small cafeteria (bottled water and biscuits in tins). No information about where to get your flight. Lots of hassles with Customs people about currency--don't forget to have receipts for every single thing you spend money on. Our flight didn't show up until about 30 hours later and no one in the airport gave us any information or help in the interim."