French flight evacuates around 100 people from Sudan
Around 100 people have been evacuated from Sudan on the first French flight out of the war-hit country after a "complicated" rescue operation, French officials said on Sunday. The first rescue flight had landed in Djibouti carrying citizens from Britain, France, Germany, and Switzerland as well as African nations such as Ethiopia and Morocco, an official from the foreign ministry said on condition of anonymity. "They're tired, tense, but very relieved to have arrived safe and sound," he said. A second flight of another 100 people is expected to leave on Sunday evening, with the evacuees having to cross the frontline of fighting around the capital Khartoum to board the planes. "I must stress the complicated nature of his operation," the official said. Asked about unconfirmed reports that a French national had been injured during the evacuation operation, a defence ministry official declined to comment. "With the operation ongoing, we do not want to comment on this type of rumour," an official from the defence ministry said, speaking during the same briefing with reporters. They gave details of the long negotiations leading up to Sunday's operations, which required a ceasefire around the road used for the evacuation convoy. President Emmanuel Macron also called his Ethiopian counterpart to request permission for the flights to use Ethiopian air space on their way to Djibouti. "We had difficulties with some countries which had closed their air space," the foreign ministry official said. A doctor was on board the French plane to assist evacuees, many of whom were "understandably psychologically affected" by their ordeal in Khartoum where food and fuel are in short supply, the official added. Other French rescue flights are expected on Monday morning. (AFP)