Middle East & Africa | Macron’s mission

France moved quickly to evacuate civilians from Sudan

The mission highlights the strategic value of its Djibouti base

This photo provided by the French Army shows military nurses taking care of French citizen after arriving in Djibouti, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Two French military planes evacuating about 200 people from multiple countries left Khartoum on Sunday for Djibouti as France urged all parties to stop fighting and return to political dialogue, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry. (Etat Major des Armies via AP)
|PARIS

Night had fallen in Paris on April 22nd when the call came through to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, from his military adviser asking for permission to evacuate civilians from Khartoum. It was a high-risk operation, in which special forces would secure a Sudanese air base in a war zone.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “French lesson”

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