French people recount their perilous evacuation

Relieved French people landed on the morning of Monday, April 24 in Djibouti at a French military base. They have just fled Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in the midst of armed conflict. 196 French people were saved and the French Embassy was closed until further notice. A business manager is one of the French people who were lucky enough to be repatriated. He explains that he tried several times to leave his house. “We couldn’t because there were shootings in the neighborhood, we could hear them sticking our heads out when we wanted to go out. We said to ourselves that we couldn’t. There are lots of people who found themselves in our situation, who found themselves stranded”he says.

Shooting during the convoy

“Some tried to leave and saw people being shot in front of them, others were afraid because with night falling, you shouldn’t go out, it’s too dangerous”. He finally took the road to a rallying point indicated by the embassy. But the convoy was taken by exchanges of fire. “There were shots, responses, two wounded at home, one of which was quite serious”, he adds. A fifth and final French evacuation flight is scheduled for Monday evening.