Photo/Illutration Japanese citizens and their family members undergo health checks at the SDF base in Djibouti on April 24 after evacuating from Sudan. (Eishiro Takeishi)

All Japanese nationals who wished to leave Sudan’s capital of Khartoum have been evacuated, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said April 25 after a violent power struggle engulfed the African nation.

However, one Japanese eager to evacuate remains near the border in the southern part of the country.

An international exodus was under way as rival military factions battled for control, increasing the risk of a nationwide civil war and leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured.

In addition to the 50 Japanese and their families who had left Sudan by April 24, eight more departed from an air base on the outskirts of the capital with the help of France.

“I appreciate France for its cooperation,” Kishida said.

“The embassy staff deserve praise for courage and responsible actions in completing the evacuation of Japanese citizens and their families, who were isolated and stranded (in Sudan), under dangerous and difficult situations where the battle (between warring factions) continues,” he added.

Around 60 Japanese nationals were in Sudan when things turned ugly.

Aside from diplomatic staff, they included employees of a nongovernmental organization and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as well as their families.

Five of the 50 evacuees left Sudan earlier and arrived in Djibouti and Ethiopia with the help of France and the International Red Cross.

Forty-five others were airlifted by the Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. They arrived in Djibouti, where the SDF has a base for anti-piracy operations, on the evening of April 24. 

First, they traveled overland from Khartoum, where street fighting has raged for the past 10 days, to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, about 800 kilometers away. There they met up with SDF personnel and took the two-hour flight to Djibouti.

The group broke into smiles with looks of visible relief on their faces when they were greeted on arrival by diplomats and SDF personnel.

They included those working for the NGO and JICA in Sudan and embassy employees as well as their families. Four of them are foreign nationals with spouse status or children of Japanese nationals.

Shunsuke Takei, the vice foreign minister who welcomed the evacuees, told reporters, “I would like to express my respect for the way everybody overcame the various difficulties and showed their courage in evacuating under tough circumstances.”

Takei added that the evacuees “look tired, but there are no major health problems.”

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