As foreign governments airlifted hundreds of their diplomats and other citizens from Sudan, Sudanese on Monday desperately sought ways to escape the chaos, fearing that the country’s two rival generals will escalate their all-out battle for power once evacuations were completed.
The evacuations were a dramatic operation. In convoys, foreign diplomats, workers and families made their way past combatants at tense front lines in the capital of Khartoum to reach extraction points — or even drove hundreds of miles to the country’s east coast.
“We traveled 15 hours on land at our own risk,” Suliman al-Kouni, an Egyptian student, said at the Arqin border crossing with Egypt. Buses lined up at the remote desert crossing carrying hundreds of people, he said. Al-Kouni was among dozens of Egyptian students making the trek. “But many of our friends are still trapped in Sudan,” he said.
Over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in the fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Amid continued gunfire, nationals from dozens of countries made their way to extraction points. Most European evacuations took place out of a site on the outskirts of Khartoum, and evacuees had to make their way across the city to reach it. Some braved the roads in their own vehicles while others called on private security firms to shepherd them through military and RSF checkpoints. From the windows of one convoy, fighters from the two sides could be seen standing, heavily armed but unmoving.
Japanese nationals are being transported by land to an eastern town with an airstrip, to be picked up by Japanese aircraft positioned in Djibouti, Japanese media said. France and Germany each said they were prepared to do more flights if possible.
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Foreigners airlifted out; Sudanese seek refuge from fightingForeign government have airlifted hundreds of diplomats and other citizens out of Sudan, and several governments have said more evacuations are possible if security conditions allow. Meanwhile, many Sudanese are desperately seeking ways to escape the chaos that has engulfed their country as two rival generals fight for control. Many are taking the long and dangerous drive to the northern border with Egypt. It's feared that once foreign evacuations are finished, the two generals could escalate their battle for power. Residents say that despite the evacuations and a truce called for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the army and the rival paramilitary force continued to clash in Khartoum and its neighboring city Omdurman.
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